Two games left in Salernitana’s great escape dream

Salernitana seemed destined to suffer relegation this season but in the last month they’ve started work on a truly incredible bid to avoid the drop to Serie B, and now only two games remain.

The Campania side’s season started with four defeats on the bounce, leaving them rock bottom in the Serie A table. They would not leave the relegation zone for over half the season, only managing to briefly poke their heads out at the start of January following a win over Hellas Verona.

Unfortunately for Salernitana, they had only escaped the bottom three for one match day, and they promptly slipped back down a week later. After a 2-1 loss to Roma on April 10, they seemed certain to suffer the drop, but suddenly they began to turn things around.

Everything changed on April 16, when they beat fellow relegation candidates Sampdoria 2-1 in Liguria. This seemed to give the team the spark they so desperately needed and they followed up that result with a 1-0 away win over Udinese only four days later.

Four days after that, they hosted a European challenging Fiorentina side and managed to upset the odds, pulling off a 2-1 win. Suddenly the Campania side began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A 1-1 draw with Atalanta in Bergamo was sufficient and was followed up by a vital 2-1 victory over Venezia three days later, in what was essentially a relegation play-off match.

Salernitana almost secured another vital three points in yesterday’s match with currently Serie B bound Cagliari, but a 99th minute equaliser by Giorgio Altare gives the Sardinian side hope.

With only two games remaining – against Empoli and Udinese – Salernitana are on the cusp of achieving one of the greatest relegation zone escapes seen in Serie A for years. Things will be tense, however, as they only sit a point ahead of 18th place Cagliari.