Verona beat Spezia in relegation playoff, Ranieri’s Cagliari promoted

MILAN (AP) — Hellas Verona will continue to play in the Italian top flight next season after it beat Spezia 3-1 in a relegation playoff on Sunday, sending its opponent down to Serie B.

Cyril Ngonge scored twice to help Verona secure its Serie A status. Spezia had a chance to get back into the match midway through the second period after Verona defender Marco Davide Faraoni was sent off but M’Bala Nzola saw his penalty saved.

Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari will be one of the teams that replaces Spezia in Serie A after it beat Bari in a promotion playoff.

Both Verona and Spezia finished the regular season level on points, on either side of the relegation zone. Under new rules there was a playoff to decide who would join last-place Sampdoria and Cremonese in being relegated.

If the rules hadn’t been changed, Spezia would have stayed up as it had the better head-to-head record.

It was the first relegation playoff since 2005, when Parma beat Bologna over two legs.

This was a one-off

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