Spezia boss Luca D’Angelo was absolutely furious.

Away to Mantova, the Ligurian side had raced into a two-goal lead thanks to a header from Giuseppe Aurelio inside the opening 20 minutes and a smartly-taken finish from Salvatore Esposito from the edge of the area in the second half.

The clock was winding down and it seemed Spezia would put the pressure back on Pisa in the race for second place. But then came the turning point.

Defender Nicolo Bertola came from behind Mantova striker Davis Mensah in the 62nd minute. The tackle was fairly innocuous, Mensah wasn’t seriously hurt and the worst anyone expected was perhaps a yellow card.

Referee Davide Ghersini didn’t even give a yellow card but VAR overturned the decision, compelling the Genoa-born official to hand Bertola a red card. 

The decision changed the game. Mantova pulled a goal back through Tomasso Maggioni with 10 minutes remaining, and the same player rescued a draw for the home side with the final touch of the game, rising up to meet Mattia Aramu’s corner to power a header home.

“In my opinion the shape of football is changing in Italy,” said D’Angelo after the game. “According to the rules it has to be a red card because, every time a player goes in like that [Bertola on Mensah], it’s an expulsion, but football is a physical sport.”

D’Angelo also, and fairly, pointed out that Bertola didn’t slide in on Mensah, merely nudging him over from a standing position. In any case, the coach was quick to defend his players from the collapse. 

The draw, combined with Pisa’s win against Reggiana, means third spot is likely the best they can hope for now.

Spezia’s form has been patchy in the last few weeks: only two wins in the last seven games has seen automatic promotion ambitions falter, and now D’Angelo’s men are looking over their shoulder with Cremonese only six points behind.

Six points is a big gap, but given their recent form, the meeting between the two sides on the final day of the Serie B season on May 9 could be huge.

Yet Spezia’s opponents on Easter Monday know a thing or two about red cards.

No side in Serie B has been reduced to 10 men, or in some cases nine men, more than Cosenza this season. Nine red cards have been shown to the Rossoblu this season, and they lead the table for the worst-disciplined side in the division.

Even in yellow cards alone, the southern side sit second in the table, one behind Reggiana.

Against Pisa in late March, Cosenza decided to outdo themselves and had two players sent off within five minutes of each other. Pisa, unsurprisingly, won the game 3-0.

The Calabrian outfit are having a nightmare season, and despite it not being a mathematical certainty, are almost sure to face relegation.

They sit bottom of the table and are eight points adrift of Cittadella in 17th. It’s a shocking turn of events for a club who finished ninth last season and narrowly missed out on the playoffs.

The departure of Gennaro Tutino, last season’s top goalscorer with 20 goals, to Sampdoria last summer proved to be a watershed moment. 

This season the club have failed to score goals, with their leading marksman — Tommaso Fumagalli — scoring a paltry four.

Massimiliano Alvini was sacked earlier in the season, but was brought back after Nicola Belmonte and Pierantonio Tortelli failed to perform any better. That being said, the pair were given just three games.

Cosenza haven’t won since a slender 1-0 win against Reggiana in early March, and have emerged victorious just twice in 2025. The chances of them gaining a third against Spezia appear very slim.

The possibility of Alvini’s side going down to 10 men, however, is far more likely. 

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