Having sent Sampdoria tumbling down to the third tier, Juve Stabia have the chance to deliver a sad end to the season for another Serie B giant in the preliminary round of the play-offs.

A draw against the Blucerchiati on Tuesday was enough to secure fifth place and home advantage against Palermo in the first round of the post-season, while keeping the dream of a second consecutive promotion alive at least until this weekend.

But in truth, the Wasps’ campaign can be branded a success already.

Picking up eight points in their first four games set the tone and they established themselves as hopefuls for the play-offs as early as October.

They showed character to bounce back from a seven-game winless run late in the year before another minor wobble in February looked to have checked their momentum, but again they responded well.

Can Juve Stabia continue to defy the odds and reach a semi-final against Cremonese? For Guido Pagliuca, the answer is a resounding yes.

“This is a big dream we’ve been working on every day, and what we’ve done makes us really proud,” the Gialloblu manager said this week.

“We started out wanting to give our young lads a chance, and the attitude (against Sampdoria) shows we’re ready for the play-offs. We want to go at it with real determination from the start; we know that if we stay grounded and believe in ourselves, we can do well.

“The next game’s a one-off against one of the toughest teams in the league, so it’s a shame we don’t have much time to get ready.”

The Stabians have won 10 of their 19 Serie B games at the Romeo Menti this season, but one of their defeats was against Palermo, who won 3-1 in Castellamare in September.

Pagliuca, however, remains adamant the Rosanero hold no fear for his team, who would qualify with a draw on Saturday.

“Bearing in mind they started with the goal of winning the league and now find themselves in the play-offs we’ll have to be sharp in using the difference in momentum and enthusiasm going into the match,” he explained.

And Palermo did indeed begin the season with far loftier expectations than scraping into the play-offs in the last spot following a 1-1 draw at home against 10-man Carrarese.

Alessio Dionisi was tasked with restoring the Rosanero to Serie A after an eight-year absence, but he has never managed to get a tune out of his expensively-assembled team. Not consistently, at least.

Palermo have won two games in a row just three times this season and their longest unbeaten run stretched to five games, with significant setbacks checking their progress each time they seemed to gather momentum.

Backed to the tune of £10m by City Football Group, Dionisi was handed a surprise stay of execution in March but remains on thin ice heading into the play-offs and an early exit could spell the end for him.

The Palermo manager will be hoping Joel Pohjanpalo can rediscover the form he showed at the beginning of his spell with the Rosanero. A £3.4m signing from Venezia in January, the Finn netted nine in his first nine appearances but has not scored since and is yet to open his play-offs account after failing to register in seven appearances across 2023 and 2024 with the Lagunari.

Along with Pohjanpalo, Matteo Brunori and Jeremy Le Douaron have combined for 15 goals, the same tally netted by Juve Stabia talisman Andrea Adorante, who has been supported by Leonardo Candellone and Kevin Piscopo with six and three goals respectively.

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