History of Serie A's tiebreakers

When Dybala scored the goal from the penalty spot that condemned Spezia against Roma in the last championship match, after Verona had already lost by a wide margin at the San Siro against AC Milan, the play-off between the two teams was no longer a hypothesis, a somewhat nostalgic suggestion, but a reality that extends the end of the championship by another week. In fact, on Sunday at the Mapei Stadium, chosen after the initial decision to play at Udine's Dacia Arena, Spezia and Verona will face each other in the fourteenth play-off in Serie A history, an inside or outside game not seen since 2005. Both Spezia and Verona have amassed the same number of points, 31, and as of this season the Lega Serie A has reintroduced the play-off to decide who will remain in the top flight. No more goals scored, goal difference or direct clashes, but a 90-minute dry game on a neutral pitch and if regulation time is not enough to decide a winner, it will go straight to penalties. 

The last time a play-off was staged was in 2005, when it was played in a return leg between Parma and Bologna, with the Ducali overturning the initial defeat at the Tardini thanks to goals from Gilardino and Carbone. In 2004, however, the play-off was not actually between two Serie A teams but between the fourth last of the major championship, Perugia, and the sixth of the Serie B, Fiorentina. It was the Viola who won, managing to return to Serie A for the first time after bankruptcy and the consequent rise from C2. The play-offs of 2001 and 2003 were marked by the presence of Reggina, who were first fooled against Hellas Verona by Mike Cossato's away goal a handful of minutes from the end, but who two years later took their revenge against Atalanta thanks to a goal by Ciccio Cozza. 

The first play-off in history took place on 13 June 1934 between Bari and Sampierdarenese, with the latter coming out victorious, while in the post-war period there were various clashes whose memory fades into the pages of football history, some of which were even played as a triangular match between two Serie A teams and one B team. Others in the 1990s were dry matches, as when Udinese condemned Brescia to relegation in 1993, or as in 1996 when Piacenza overcame Cagliari, guaranteeing themselves a further season in Serie A. In 1994/1995 Padova even won on penalties against Genoa, which caused three deaths from heart attacks, two of which even occurred at the stadium. Hopefully Sunday's match will be less dramatic.