The “safe poles” operation has an absolute protagonist. He won’t have the consideration of the bombers or fantasy players, but if Catanzaro continues to travel high, the credit also goes to Mirko Pigliacelli. Of what he guarantees in “normal” matches and the exceptional saves he pulls out when overtime is mandatory, as happened against Frosinone. Well, in matches like this Mirko is as if he were in a state of grace: he certainly is for his fans, a little less so for his opponents. Just look at Koutsoupias’ frustrated expression after the high save from the second close-range header that the Greek thought he would turn into a goal. Or you can read Calò’s lips after the deflection of a right-footed shot from the six yard box for a corner. They were the two most complicated interventions of an intense challenge for everyone, especially for the goalkeepers.
Those of Pigliacelli (five saves out of seven shots on target for Frosinone, 73 in the entire championship based on Opta data) were the last, not the only miracles of his two seasons in the Giallorossi. It’s difficult to remember his best performance: there would be the away match against Sassuolo last tournament, but how do you keep out the penalty saved by Cesena’s Shpendi in the last playoff? The result was 0-0 and there he got his hands on the passage to the round later certified by Iemmello’s goal. If we add other scattered interventions (like the one on the goring of Doriano Depaoli, in January), the list becomes very long in terms of performance between the posts, coming out or setting up, given that Mirko really knows how to do it with the ball. However, the match against Frosinone certainly ends up among the best of his Calabrian experience made up of concreteness and very few words. Because Mirko only spoke to the microphones as soon as he arrived. Maybe he’s strong is taken a little for granted: the 32-year-old Roman has defended the posts of important teams, it’s no coincidence that sporting director Polito took him from Palermo. But nothing is ever taken for granted, especially considering the fact that Pigliacelli took on Fulignati’s very heavy legacy without any problems. From day one no one regretted it and this was Mirko’s first big save.
