Lecce and Cremonese promoted to Serie A on eventful final day

Lecce and Cremonese have earned promotion to Serie A following an eventful final day of action in Italy’s second tier.

Cremonese are back in the top tier of Italian football for the first time since 1995-96, while Lecce return after a two-season absence.

Four teams were battling it out for the two automatic promotion spots on Friday, with Monza and Pisa also in contention.

Lecce led the way at the summit entering the final round of games and beat bottom side Pordenone 1-0 at home through a Zan Majer goal to see the job through.

Monza knew that they would join Lecce in the top flight had they defeated Perugia, but Gabriele Ferrarini’s goal in the final five minutes condemned them to a shock 1-0 defeat.

Cremonese took full advantage by seeing off Como 2-1 at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia thanks to a couple of goals from Samuel Di Carmine.

.@USCremonese is promoted to #SerieA
Congratulations#WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/FLYRRCdv4E

— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) May 6, 2022

That rendered Pisa’s 2-1 victory at Frosinone meaningless in terms of the race for automatic promotion, with the Nerazzurri having to settle for a play-off semi-final spot.

Perugia’s win against Lecce saw them book a play-off quarter-final place, where Brescia await, while Ascoli will meet Benevento.

It was just as lively at the opposite end of the division, meanwhile, as there was a three-way fight to avoid the one remaining relegation place.

Alessandria’s 1-0 loss to fellow strugglers Vincenza saw them join Pordenone and Crotone in dropping out of the division.