Can Juve Stabia really dare to dream?

The side from Castellammare di Stabia, a small seaside town a 45-minute drive from Naples, is one step closer to achieving one of the unlikeliest success stories in recent Serie B history, after they saw off Palermo in the first stage of promotion play-offs.

Andrea Adorante’s goal in the 67th minute secured a 1-0 victory for the home side and they are rewarded with a two-legged semi-final against Cremonese.

There was a buzz about the place in the hours leading up to the game, an excitement and a sense that they really could do it.

Club colours could be seen all across town, Gialloblu flags draped from building to building everywhere. 

Palermo, given their history and transfer spend this season, were expected to advance, but Guido Pagliuca’s side produced another surprise in a season full of them.

For the visitors, the stakes were much higher due to the Sicilians finishing below their opponents in the league: a win at all costs was needed. A stalemate would mean elimination and another season in the second tier, and likely the end of the road for under-fire boss Alessio Dionisi.

Yet due to the permutations of the play-off, all Juve Stabia required was a draw, after extra time, to make it through to the semi-finals. They went one better.

The Stadio Romeo Menti, a tightly-packed stadium that holds just over 7,500 seats, was vociferous in voice amid a plume of flares and fireworks.

Once the smoke cleared, the question was could the home side match the energy shown by the sold-out crowd? 

In the early stages the answer was yes. Tackles flew in, but Palermo were unfortunate not to be handed a penalty when Federico Di Francesco was caught from behind.

Had the game not been in its earliest stages, referee Marco Di Bello might have made a different call. Luckily for the home fans, Di Bello waved play on.

The first big chance came on the half-hour mark when Romano Mussolini broke clear down the right. The winger was one-on-one with Palermo stopper Emil Audero, but his shot cannoned off the post and straight back into play. The crowd groaned in unison. 

The roof nearly came off the Menti when Kevin Piscopo forced a spectacular save from Audero following a corner. Leonardo Candellone somehow blasted the rebound over the bar when it looked easier to score. The anguish from the Stabians was palpable. 

Adorante was quiet by his own lofty standards this season. Yet the striker sent a reminder of his talent, and form, by attempting an overhead kick from just outside the box.

Then just over 20 minutes from the end he demonstrated what he was all about. Running on to Christian Pierobon’s through ball, Adorante showed remarkable composure to place the ball beyond Audero into the top left-hand corner for his 16th goal of the campaign. 

The guttural roar that followed from the Menti could have been heard in Naples.

A chorus of ‘ho visto Adorante’ (I have seen Adorante), an alternate version of the song belted out by Neapolitans about Diego Maradona for decades, reverberated around the ground. 

Adorante is no Maradona but his goals catapulted Juve Stabia into the play-offs and thanks to his latest, a meeting with Giovanni Stroppa’s men now awaits.

All 7,500 people packed inside the ground were enveloped in thick smoke via a flurry of even more flares. The atmosphere now reaching fever pitch.

The hosts dealt with the inevitable onslaught from Palermo to see the game out but the away side were, in truth, poor. Yet that was down to Juve Stabia. 

Dionisi’s men did the double over Pagliuca during the season, but it ultimately mattered for little in the end, as the home side looked sharper, showed more hunger and wanted it more. 

For a side that only returned to Serie B after an 11-year absence last August, Juve Stabia are, incredibly, only four games away from playing in Serie A.

The club’s future looks remarkably bright, with Brera Holdings, an Italian-Irish investment group with headquarters in Milan and Dublin, lifting their stake in the club from 38 per cent at the end of last year to 52 per cent in March.

The company had been close to investing in Spezia, but pivoted to southern Italy and clearly see potential in Juve Stabia. And it is easy to see why.

The Menti is not the flashiest of stadiums. It is like most Italian grounds insofar as it’s aesthetically brutal, with masses of concrete and fencing everywhere. But it is what’s inside that matters most.

Juve Stabia were playing Serie C football just 12 months ago. Promoted after winning Girone C by 10 points, they have built on the success of last season, finishing fifth in the regular Serie B campaign to land a chance of promotion.

The books are firmly balanced, with only €5.6m spent on player wages.

In terms of salary-to-points, they have outperformed every side in the division. Palermo, by contrast, have the fourth-highest wage bill.

That is what is most impressive about the work Pagliuca has done this season.

No matter how their play-off journey ends, the foundation is set for the club to not just survive, but thrive.

And now, on a glorious Saturday night in Campania, the thought of seeing Juve Stabia play Juventus on the biggest stage is now another step closer.