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The Sicilian club "Catania" returned to the highest Italian league - "Serie A" after a 23-year hiatus, following the last match of the 42nd round on Sunday. It was revealed that "Catania" secured the second automatic ticket to "Serie A" after their victory against "Albinoleffe", maintaining a two-point lead over third-placed "Torino". The place in the next season's "Serie A" was already secured by the Bergamo club, which became the league champion despite losing to "Modena". "Torino" remained in third place safely, with "Mantova" four points behind in fourth place, followed by "Modena" in fifth, and "Cesena" in sixth due to a minimal goal difference advantage over "Verona". However, the teams from the 3rd to 6th positions have not lost hope of making it to "Serie A" yet. They will have the opportunity to fight for it in playoffs similar to the English "Championship" competition. In the semifinals on June 1 and 4, "Cesena" will face "Torino", and "Modena" will meet "Mantova". In the final on June 8 and 11, the winners of these pairs will compete for the promotion spot. No changes occurred in the battle for survival - Tom Danilevičius' team won 2-0 against "Ternana" with a beautiful assist, but their last match of the season was insignificant. In the additional match against "Avellino" on June 3 and 7, "Albinoleffe" failed to climb out of the 18th position. On the other hand, Marius Stankevičius' "Brescia" suffered another defeat and dropped to tenth place. The Lithuanian legionnaire scored five goals this season and earned two red cards, while his compatriot Tom Danilevičius from "Avellino" scored 17 goals and entered the league's top scorers' list. Results of the 42nd round: Atalanta 0 - 1 Modena Bari 1 - 1 Triestina Bologna 3 - 0 Catanzaro Catania 2 - 1 Albinoleffe Cesena 2 - 1 Verona Crotone 4 - 2 Brescia Mantova 0 - 0 Pescara Piacenza 2 - 3 Arezzo Ternana 0 - 2 Avellino Torino 3 - 0 Cremonese Vicenza 0 - 0 Rimini Top scorers of the season: (Place, player, team, goals, penalty goals) 1. Cristian Bucchi (Modena) - 29 (11) 2. Claudio Bellucci (Bologna) - 25 (5) 3. Gionatha Spinesi (Catania) - 23 (6) 4. Daniele Cacia (Piacenza) - 18 (3) 5. Tomas Danilevičius (Avellino) - 17 (1) 6. Emiliano Salvetti (Cesena) - 17 (7) 7. Mario Frick (Ternana) - 16 (6) ... 53-68. Marius Stankevičius (Brescia) 5 League table: (Position, team, played, won, drawn, lost, goals, points) 1. Atalanta 42 24 9 9 61-39 81 (promoted to "Serie A") 2. Catania 42 22 12 8 67-42 78 (promoted to "Serie A") 3. Torino 42 21 13 8 51-31 76 (playoffs) 4. Mantova 42 18 15 9 46-35 69 (playoffs) 5. Modena 42 17 16 9 59-41 67 (playoffs) 6. Cesena 42 18 12 12 66-54 66 (playoffs) 7. Arezzo 42 17 15 10 45-34 66 8. Bologna 42 16 16 10 55-42 64 9. Crotone 42 18 9 15 56-48 63 10. Brescia 42 15 15 12 54-44 60 11. Piacenza 42 13 15 14 56-52 54 12. Pescara 42 14 12 16 41-50 54 13. Bari 42 11 18 13 43-47 51 14. Triestina 42 12 15 15 44-51 51 15. Verona 42 10 19 13 42-41 49 16. Vicenza 42 13 10 19 38-49 49 17. Rimini 42 11 15 16 42-49 48 18. Albinoleffe 42 10 16 16 38-52 46 (playoffs) 19. Avellino 42 11 13 18 42-62 46 (playoffs) 20. Ternana 42 7 18 17 36-58 39 (relegated to "Serie C1") 21. Cremonese 42 6 12 24 36-60 30 (relegated to "Serie C1") 22. Catanzaro 42 7 7 28 26-63 28 (relegated to "Serie C1")
