Salernitana fought back for a point in Empoli, but saw a late Diego Perotti penalty saved by Guglielmo Vicario, this result still mathematically relegating Venezia and leaving the rest wide open.
The Tuscans were already comfortably mid-table, while Davide Nicola had dragged his side kicking and screaming from a seemingly impossible situation to one point clear of the drop zone. Valerio Verre and Petar Stojanovic returned from suspension, with Riccardo Marchizza, Lorenzo Tonelli and Nicolas Haas injured. Franck Ribery and Emil Bohinen sat out bans after the chaotic 1-1 draw with Cagliari.
Serie A Liveblog: Empoli-Salernitana, Roma-Venezia, Udinese-Spezia, Verona-Torino
Just seven minutes in, Fabiano Parisi needed a goal-line clearance to prevent the Milan Djuric header on a corner. Moments later, Guglielmo Vicario fingertipped a Norbert Gyomber header onto the underside of the bar from Simone Verdi’s free kick.
However, it was Empoli who broke the deadlock when Kristjan Asllani threaded through for Patrick Cutrone, who squeezed his right-foot shot between the goalkeeper and the near post. That was Cutrone’s third Serie A goal of the season, his second past Salernitana.
Ivan Radovanovic’s daisy-cutter flashed inches wide, while Pasquale Mazzocchi and Ederson strikes skimmed the far top corner.
Valerio Verre tested Luigi Sepe from distance and Cutrone should’ve made it 2-0, his free header off target from six yards.
Guglielmo Vicario made a simply extraordinary save to claw Federico Bonazzoli’s header off the line after a Matteo Ruggeri cross.
Moments later, Empoli went on the counter and Cutrone hit the base of the upright, then Sepe needed a double save on Nedim Bajrami and Filippo Bandinelli.
Vicario made another extraordinary save on Djuric’s header and the attempted Bonazzoli tap-in. However, Vicario also fumbled the successive corner and Bonazzoli equalised with a spectacular bicycle-kick.
The drama wasn’t over, as Mamadou Coulibaly and Simone Romagnoli both lunged at the same ball, the Salernitana man getting there millimetres earlier and so a penalty was awarded after a VAR review. Diego Perotti stepped up, but his spot-kick was fingertipped out of the bottom corner by Vicario.
Andrea La Mantia almost won it for Empoli, a header inches over in the final kick. At the final whistle Perotti collapsed in tears, consoled by his teammates.
Empoli 1-1 Salernitana
Cutrone 31 (E), Bonazzoli 76 (S)
Saved penalty: Perotti 84 (S)
