Having 4 Sent Off Isn’t The Recipe For Promotion.

By: chris | June 11th, 2009

(Full highlights forthcoming.)

Grosseto had a Cinderella season in Serie B – think of them as the Wolfsburg to Sassuolo’s first half barnstormers Hoffenheim. Despite making their Serie B debut just last year, 95 years after their founding, they made it to the Serie A promotional playoffs this year against Livorno, who finished a disappointing and somewhat surprising dead last in Serie A last year. Grosseto won the first leg of the semi-final 2-0 at home and had booked their ticket for the promotion final. They only confirmed it with a goal to draw it even at 1-1 in the 34th at the Armando Picchi, winning that ever valuable away goal and seemingly only confirming their passage with Livorno needing to win by three goals. Then it all went downhill – and fast.

In the 45th minute, just before the half, two big things happened: Giuseppe Abruzzese was sent off for his second yellow of the half and Tomas Danilevicius followed up another brilliant Alessandro Diamanti free kick rebound with a tap in. The goal largely meant little as they still needed an uphill two goals, but going up a man was massive.

At least it proved such, as Livorno incredibly scored two more goals within ten minutes of the second half, which meant they were now ahead 4-1 and headed for the promotion playoff final.

And yet more incredibly, this would prove to be the high point for Grosetto for the remainder of the game as they – now down to ten men – had not one, not two, but three men sent off in the next twenty minutes – two second yellows and one straight red. So they went from needing one goal with 10 men to needing one with 7. 11 v 7 – something I’d never had the good fortune to witness, that I can recall.

The end of the game played out as you’d expect: Livorno in the easiest game of keep away they’ll ever enjoy, Grosseto’s coach threatening to abandon the game and Grosseto’s players quitting as they felt clearly the victim of some sort of conspiracy (and they might’ve been – this is, after all, Italy).

And this begs a question – the answer to which a few quick Google searches later provide conflicting reports. There was a Spanish referee recently who sent off 19, but that was in the dressing room after the game had been abandoned due to a bench-clearing brawl. But is there another team – surely there must be – who’ve had more than four sent off from the pitch, relegating them to playing with 6? (FIFA rules recommend a game be abandoned if less than 7 can play on one side, so it likely would mean the game was abandoned.)