The white flag raised by Giuseppe Ambrosino was the worst news that Catanzaro could receive at this moment. With the risk that the attacker had finished the season, the club, the coach and the player himself had been dealing with it since the weekend, when the MRI the twenty-year-old underwent on Friday had painted a dark picture and increased the concerns.
The club took all the time possible, however with that kind of injury (second degree muscle injury of the semimembranosus of the right thigh with partial involvement of the aponeurosis) there is nothing to do except stay still for 30-40 days. So Ambrosino, a boy from Procida who Catanzaro took on loan from Napoli, will be forced to watch the playoffs from the outside instead of experiencing them from the inside, as he would have done and deserved by playing a return round as a protagonist. The blow from behind against Venezia cost him and the Eagles dearly.
Weight. For Vivarini it was no joke to give up Ghion and D'Andrea, the other two who finished early due to injury (the first with a muscle, the second with a knee), however the point guard had already been replaced very well by Petriccione (he would have been a precious wildcard, but no longer a permanent starter), while the second provided imagination and quality in one-on-one situations, but had not yet managed to make an impact as expected.
Ambrosino, on the contrary, had been a point of reference on the offensive front for more than two months thanks to a mix of characteristics that none of the other Giallorossi attackers possess: the ability to help the team move forward, which found a safe support in him, the skill in protecting the ball with his back to the goal (how many fouls he received), the quality of his maneuver combined with vision of the game and intelligent readings, the physical exuberance that allowed him to keep up without too many problems even with extra-large defenders like those of Cremonese and Venice, who in fact have not given up bad manners.
Biasci has scored more than three times (10 goals to three) and Donnarumma has 13 years more experience, in terms of searching for depth, perhaps both of them give even greater guarantees than the under 21 team who this year was also promoted to Nunziata's Azzurri, but neither one nor the other can guarantee that type of dirty work that Ambrosino took on, not surprisingly starting in 10 of the last 13 matches (Ternana excluded). They have other qualities and Vivarini will have to focus on those in the playoffs.
The greeting. Peppino, as they call Ambrosino in the dressing room, returned to Naples thanking the fans on Instagram: «This post was the last thing I wanted to do. I would have preferred sweat and dedication, what I have always tried to leave on the pitch in every minute played. The least for the warmth and strength that you wonderful fans have transmitted to me at all times. I won't be able to do it with my legs, but my head and heart will be with my teammates, now my family, of course they will do their best to finish this fantastic year in the best possible way.”
