Saturday’s opponents: Cittadella
After an impressive campaign, Cittadella will go again. They finished sixth last season in Serie B as a newly-promoted side with 63 points and the third-best attack before they were eliminated by Carpi in the playoffs. The coach Venturato has shown himself to be very well-prepared and they warrant applause for their style of play as they kept their team together for long spells of the season and now they’ve had few departures and a few timely arrivals.
The veteran Paolucci is no longer there, nor is the talented forward Vido formerly of Milan and now Atalanta or the midfield figure of Valzania. All of the play revolves around Manuel Iori who is an expert in midfield with over 500 matches as a professional and he had a great season in terms of scoring with seven. In Venturato’s 4-3-1-2, there is space for the new Siega who has arrived from Vicenza and he has shown a good sense of timing and he was one of the best players in the previous round against Albinoleffe. A number of absences will force the coach into making certain dicesions. Strizzolo and the Italian-Brazilian Chiaretti are out so the attack will have more going for it in terms of physicality rather than creativity. Arrighini is in good from alongside Litteri with the goalscorer a physical presence capable of scoring with both feet from various positions. Behind the front two, Schenetti is asked to play between the lines with his dynamism. The goalkeeper Alfonso is another absentee an excellent 2016-17 season and Paleari who was born in 1992 is likely to be his replacement. Without Scaglia, Marco Varnier who is around the Under-20 National Team is likely to line up in midfield with Pelegatto and the debutant Adorni who has come in from a good season in Serie C Santarcangelo.
The only previous match in the Tim Cup came eleven years ago. It was also August at the Dall’Ara. Cittadella made us sweat after Giacobbo put Cittadella ahead. Ulivieri’s side were only able to win in extra trime through a Bellucci goal after Marazzina had equalised. Current Cittadella player Iori was already in the midfield on that day.
