Serie A | Verona 0-2 Cagliari: Pavoletti practically guarantees safety

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Susy Campanale | Last updated Apr 28, 2025 4:45 PM ET

Veteran striker Leonardo Pavoletti and a late Alessandro Deiola counter gave Cagliari a potentially decisive victory for their Serie A safety, while Daniele Ghilardi saw red for Verona.

This was a huge fixture between two teams eager to make the definitive leap away from the drop zone. Both were coming off defeats, Hellas succumbing 1-0 to Roma with Pawel Dawidowicz, Casper Tengstedt and Abdou Harroui injured. The Sardinians lost Yerry Mina and had Roberto Piccoli suspended, but Alessandro Deiola returned to the squad after one point from three rounds.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Cagliari were dangerous on the counter-attack, Razvan Marin sending Zito Luvumbo clear on goal, forcing Lorenzo Montipò to come sprinting out to parry with his legs.

Verona lost Tomas Suslov too in the opening half-hour, as he limped off following treatment.

Michel Adopo nodded a Tommaso Augello corner over the bar and Cagliari took a deserved lead when Diego Coppola and Daniele Ghilardi failed to intercept the Luvumbo cross, finding veteran Leonardo Pavoletti at the far post.

Elia Caprile beat away the Ondrej Duda free kick and Lambourde’s volley was off target, but Verona finished the match down to 10 men when Ghilardi was shown a straight red card for his late, high and wild tackle on Gianluca Gaetano.

Cagliari added a second deep into stoppages with a classic counter-attack, as Gaetano ran from his own half and drew out the goalkeeper, generously rolling across for Deiola’s tap-in at the back post.

Verona 0-2 Cagliari

Pavoletti 30 (C), Deiola 93 (C)

Sent off: Ghilardi 85 (V)

28-04-2025 19:45 MatchDay 34 Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi

Verona

Cagliari 0 - 2

Player statistic

1st half

		30'		Leonardo Pavoletti (Assist: Zito Luvumbo)
		40'		Gabriele Zappa

2nd half

Amin Sarr		63'
Diego Coppola

66' Daniele Ghilardi

85' 90+3'

Alessandro Deiola (Assist: Gianluca Gaetano)

Match statistic

55 Possession % 45 6 Total shots 6 2 Shots on target 4 3 Shots off target 2 1 Blocked shots 0 2 Corners 3 1 Offsides 2 14 Fouls 9 Verona Cagliari

Starting lineups

Lorenzo Montipò Goalkeeper 87 Daniele Ghilardi Defender 42 Diego Coppola Defender 12

Domagoj Bradaric Defender 58' 6 Nicolás Valentini Defender 70' 33

Ondrej Duda Midfielder 25

Suat Serdar Midfielder 70' 9 Amin Sarr Attacker 35 Daniel Mosquera Attacker 59' 38 Jackson Tchatchoua Attacker 31

Tomas Suslov Attacker 28' 25

Elia Caprile Goalkeeper 28 Gabriele Zappa Defender 24

José Luis Palomino Defender 19 Nadir Zortea Defender 6

Sebastiano Luperto Defender 3

Tommaso Augello Defender 29 Antoine Makoumbou Midfielder 8

Michel Adopo Midfielder 18

Răzvan Marin Midfielder 83' 30

Leonardo Pavoletti Attacker 75' 77 Zito Luvumbo Attacker

83'

Substitutes

Davide Faraoni Defender 22

Alessandro Berardi Goalkeeper 34 Simone Perilli Goalkeeper 10

Cheikh Niasse Attacker 4 Flavius Daniliuc Defender 80 Alphadjo Cissè Attacker 3 Martin Frese Defender 72 Junior Ajayi Attacker 2 Daniel Oyegoke Defender Tobias Slotsager Defender 24

Antoine Bernede Midfielder 28' 8

Darko Lazovic Midfielder 58' 7 Mathis Lambourde Attacker 59' 20

Grigoris Kastanos Midfielder 70' 14

Dailon Rocha Livramento Attacker 70' 21

Jakub Jankto Midfielder 33 Adam Obert Defender 10

Nicolas Viola Midfielder 97 Mattia Felici Attacker 1 Giuseppe Ciocci Goalkeeper 9

Florinel Coman Midfielder 16 Matteo Prati Midfielder 71 Alen Sherri Goalkeeper 36 Nicola Pintus Defender 80

Kingstone Mutandwa Attacker 75' 14

Alessandro Deiola Midfielder 83' 70

Gianluca Gaetano Midfielder

83'

This article first appeared on Football Italia and was syndicated with permission.