Cesena Spareggio

This week’s Covid recollection goes right back to the start, my first ever game abroad at Cesena. In the photo above we were right in the back row, top left of the high curva at the opposite end.

“Picture the scene, the final league matches of Italy’s Serie B at the end of the 1986/87 season, seven clubs still chasing three promotion places to join the top table. Added to that, nine clubs were still trying to avoid three relegation places, meaning 16 of twenty clubs still had something to fight for, and as the calendar edged toward June, the whole country was still buzzing about calcio, or football as we call it. Bari, Bologna and Messina were stuck in mid-table with nothing to play for, and only Cagliari had walked the plank and were relegated ahead of the last round of fixtures.

This was the scene that greeted my first ever game on foreign soil, ticking boxes at finally watching Cesena, and a longstanding curiosity from my subbuteo playing days. I was travelling with my girlfriend at the time, and the deal was I could go to one game, an arrangement that sadly did preclude me from going to Bologna the week before for one of the great derbies of Italy, now a rarely played occasion when Cesena come calling. It was a game Cesena were to lose, but it did albeit inadvertently, set up the final game beautifully, but the opportunity of having the whole thing in their own hands had been lost.

Arriving in Cesena six hours before kick off was a good idea, as we headed straight to the stadium where thankfully tickets were already being sold, this was going to be a busy occasion, possibly a sellout. The joy of the good old days in Italy, where cash being produced got you a generic ticket, rather than all the faffing about with ID these days. We had plenty of time to explore the town, maybe not somewhere on many people’s tourist maps, but in Piazza Del Popolo, Cesena possesses a magnificent square, complete with its own ramparts of the Malatestian Fortress on one side, which is up the hill above the town. Just sitting in the Piazza soaking up the sun on the steps of the centrepiece fountain is a lovely peaceful experience as this is a traffic free zone. Would the area be a riot with Cesena fans celebrating a return to Serie A by 7pm?

Stadio “La Fiorita” (now the Dino Manuzzi, following significant reconstruction) was full an hour before kick off, and we were up in the corner of the towering permanent scaffold terracing in the home Curva. Everytime a fresh song rang out the entire structure swayed! The stadio was buzzing, and finally being amongst the pageantry and colour of the tifosi at Cesena was a dream come true. It was absolutely boiling, with the temperature in the thirties, and a crowd at 28,000 seemed higher than the official capacity, everyone was crammed in. The flags and scarves were raised for a tumultuous welcome as both sets of players took to the field ahead of this most enthralling game, with many questions as to what was about to unravel across ten simultaneous games about to be answered. If any Catania fans were in the stadium they weren’t apparent, for sure it was a long way, but the Sicilians still needed a win to be safe, and they are a well supported club, they must have been somewhere.

The state of play before kick off saw Cremonese lead with 43 points, one clear of Genoa, Pescara and Pisa, two ahead Cesena and Lecce, with Parma on 40. Remember these were the days of two points for a win, so Parma’s only chance was via any play off should a cluster of clubs land on 42 points, that was a remote possibility. This was also the pre-digital era, so little radios were rife, radio rumours were flying about right from the off. This was going to be a rollercoaster ride of a game. The Cesena fans were charged with that special emotion a football fan gets in anticipation of their team being on the verge of something special, and the atmosphere was electric. Gone was the disappointment of losing the derby at Bologna the weekend before and having lost the opportunity to control their own destiny, but as you’d expect the fans were right behind the team, Serie A was just around the corner. I had arrived in Cesena not long after celebrating promotion with Meadowbank, could Cesena make it double joy?

In the very first minute Ruggiero Rizzitelli wriggled clear and unleashed a rocket of a shot that rocked the Catania crossbar, it set the tone as Cesena went about their task with relish. But the first real roar of the day came from a radio rumour in the twelfth minute, Taranto had taken the lead versus Genoa, a rival for promotion was in trouble. A few minutes later, a corner from the left seemed over hit, it flew to Bordin at the far side of the box. His first effort was parried by the keeper, but it came back to Bordin, who headed powerfully beyond the keeper. La Fiorita went wild, and the constantly shaking terrace became more pronounced in its oscillation. Just as the wild celebration was cooling, news broke that Pisa led Cremonese, the leaders were losing, the volume of “Cesena, Cesena” had reached fever pitch. The dream was edging towards reality. “Serie A, Serie A” they chanted. It has to be said at this point the game had become secondary to the carnival atmosphere and the pageantry of the occasion. My first dabble with Italian football wasn’t letting me down.

Just after the half-hour Mr Paparesta, the referee from Bari caused a few near cardiac arrests in the crowd when he awarded Catania a penalty for a seemingly innocuous incident, on one of the visitors rare raids in the Cesena box. Up stepped Piero Braglia who despite the hostile atmosphere calmly slotted the ball by Sebastiano Rossi for the equaliser, but no! Someone had encroached before the kick, and he was asked to take it again. Up he stepped again, 1,1, the very same place, but yet again the ref ordered a retake, yet more excessively eager Sicilians scuppered it again. By now the goal must have been shrinking for Braglia, and the chances of a save had surely grown. Braglia held his nerve and scored for a third time to finally equalise. The atmosphere was temporarily punctured. I have never seen a three times taken penalty since that day!

Results elsewhere were the puncture repair kit, and within minutes the voluble partisan support was back, rallying to the call like any good support, Cesena just had to win and hope. At the break Cesena manager Bruno Bolchi might well have been bolshy with his players as they came out all fired up, and the nerves seemed to have gone. The crowd responded to the more urgent style, as the home team tried to avoid getting drawn into the niggly style of Catania.

Fabio Aselli had been a continual thorn for the Sicilians, he repeatedly beat the defender down the wing, whipping in dangerous crosses, but these largely hadn’t connected with the strikers, with Rizzitelli or Simonini mistiming the run to connect perfectly with these dangerous balls. Catania were an odd bunch, they seemed happy with the draw and weren’t going hell for leather to find a winner, and they continued to sit deep. The clock was ticking and while it was largely one way traffic Marco Onorati in the Catania goal was dealing with everything quite comfortably. Then Aselli, who had switched to the left did his defender again, and passed the ball to Traini in the box, who was unceremoniously bundled to the ground by the frustrated defender, penalty to Cesena. In what seemed like no time at all, the ball was dispatched high into the net from the spot by substitute Traini who hadn’t been on the field that long, lift-off Cesena (see story photo). What was odd about the penalty was the regular penalty taker Fulvio Simonini didn’t take it, had he lost his nerve amid the tense atmosphere? Intriguingly in my second Italian game the following year he did take a penalty in a 3-1 win for Padova v Cremonese at the wonderful old Stadio Appiani in Padova.

There was just thirteen minutes left at La Fiorita, the relief was palpable at having regained the lead, and all of a sudden the radio once again became the most important piece of equipment in the ground. Those who had brought a transistor were like public broadcasters, and pockets of cheering would break out in little corners ahead of other areas, but gradually the rumours got around. Pisa had scored again at Cremona and they were for sure headed to Serie A, leaving four clubs fighting out for two places. Around the time of the penalty award, lost in the midst of that chaos, Pescara had taken the lead at home to Parma, they’d claim a second slot in A as things stood. We were level with Cremonese and Lecce, who were winning in Sardinia by now too. Genoa seemed to have blown it three down at Taranto. But the relegation places were amusing them too, Lazio were being held by Vicenza and were going to the third tier!

Aselli was the man of the match, his inspired performance had been the key to how this game unfolded. He had the defence in tatters, and minutes after the penalty he beat a couple of them again and thundered the ball home, the stadium went wild! He was up on the advertising hoardings by the fans celebrating when for some bizarre reason they were all called back for a free kick to Catania, the goal had been chalked off. This sparked the only moment of derision from the Ultras and missiles started to be thrown to show their disgust. Things calmed down, but Cesena were smarting, and that momentary lack of concentration gave the visitors heart. Perhaps word had got on the field that a draw would maybe be enough to stay up, and with just over a minute to go a rocket of a shot thundered against the Cesena post with Rossi beaten, hearts were in mouths now. The goalkeepers hilarious time wasting from the ensuing goal kick earned him a yellow card and a big cheer. Minutes later the ref brought proceedings to a halt, Cesena had won, Catania were going down and we all started doing the maths as to what was going to happen next. The relief was tempered with disappointment that the day hadn’t brought direct promotion, a bit like a cup final without a winner.

The final outcome of this exciting first ever game in Italy was unchanged at the top after Cesena had taken the lead, with Pescara and Pisa winning two huge promotion boom or bust tussles that saw them both go up on the day, leaving a three way play off for the final place at the top table. Cesena, Cremonese and Lecce would play each other once in neutral venues. Lazio had scored late to relegate Vicenza and leave them in a play off with Campobasso, a tie they won, and Campobasso have never been near the second division since.

In the playoffs, Cesena started with a 0-0 with Lecce at Pescara, a result relayed to me by a couple from Leicester who we’d meet in Italy and they’d be so captivated by the drama of our final day story, they made sure they watched the game on TV. Cremonese, who’d really blown it with a home loss to Pisa just couldn’t raise themselves and Lecce were in pole position after whacking them 4-1. Cesena only needed to beat Cremonese as well to force a final with Lecce. In the years I had been following Cesena I had noted that Cremonese were a bogey side, however, in Modena, one solitary strike from Ruggiero Rizzitelli, who got the party started versus Catania when he thumped the bar, got one in the net to bring the team within 90 minutes of Serie A.

The calendar had ticked round to 8th July by the time Cesena and Lecce faced off once more at Stadio Riviera delle Palme in San Benedetto Del Tronto, home of Sambenedettese. I wasn’t willing to wait for the football magazine to arrive in Edinburgh the following week, and so a call to the stadium soon after the game relayed the score I wanted to hear, “due uno Cesena”, brought a quiet punch of the air by way of celebration. Seven weeks after my first game at Cesena the club were back in Serie A. I would have loved to have been in Piazza Del Popolo where I am sure the celebrations would have gone long into the night”.

I subsequently got to see Cesena in Serie A at Inter and Sampdoria, where they gained two fine draws en route to another survival campaign. Periodically I have dropped into Cesena over the years, watching games in the top three tiers, with one solitary defeat, a late double by Inter in 2010 in the 7 games I have seen them play, none has come close to the drama of this first versus Catania.