Genoa secured safety on the final day of the longest-ever Serie A season, while Lecce dropped down to the second division on Sunday.
Genoa beat Hellas Verona 3-0 to finish four points ahead of Lecce and ensure a 14th consecutive season in the top Italian league. Lecce lost 4-3 to Parma,
Brescia and Spal had already been mathematically relegated.
Genoa's Antonio Sanabria scores a goal during a serie A soccer match between Genoa and Verona, at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. (Tano PecoraroLapresse via AP)
LONGEST SEASON
The coronavirus-delayed season ended almost 12 months after it started on Aug. 24, 2019.
“The longest season in history ends today, in our country’s most difficult year in recent memory,” said Vincenzo Spadafora, Italy’s sports minister.
Genoa's Antonio Sanabria, right, celebrates after a goal with Cristian Zapata during a serie A soccer match between Genoa and Verona, at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. (Tano PecoraroLapresse via AP)
At the start of the lockdown in March, Italy was the epicenter of the pandemic in Europe and has now registered more than 35,000 deaths from COVID-19.
“During those weeks we really thought that the season should be stopped,” Spadafora said. “But thanks to the series of precautions we took and the seriousness of the protocols put in place by the Italian soccer federation, the season was not only able to restart but also be completed.”
Due to the virus, the season was suspended for more than three months between March and June.
Lecce's Fabio Lucioni (5) watches the ball go in after an own-goal during a serie A soccer match between Lecce and Parma, at the Via Del Mare stadium in Lecce, Italy, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. (Donato FasanoLapresse via AP)
Juventus sealed a record-extending ninth straight title last weekend.
GENOA SAFE
Antonio Sanabria scored twice for Genoa, which also got a goal from Cristian Romero.
Still, it was a nervous finish with Genoa losing two players to red cards and ending with nine men to Verona's 10.
Lecce, which needed to win and hope that Genoa didn’t, fought back from two goals down to equalize by halftime. But then Andreas Cornelius and Roberto Inglese restored Parma’s two-goal lead before Gianluca Lapadula pulled one back for Lecce.
OTHER RESULTS
Udinese beat eighth-place Sassuolo 1-0, Fiorentina defeated last-place Spal 3-1 to finish 10th, and Bologna drew 1-1 with Torino.
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf