Win edges Ochoa’s Salernitana closer to safety in Serie A
Antonio Candreva’s stoppage-time winner handed the Salerno a valuable victory against Atalanta in Week 35 of Serie A.
Salernitana and Guillermo Ochoa are step closer to guaranteeing another season in Serie A. Paulo Sousa’s side gained victory with a late winner against Atalanta that practically ensures they will avoid relegation with nine points left to play. Once again, Ochoa shone and was one of his team’s best players at Stadio Arechi.
Salernitana and Ochoa faced Atalanta with the ghosts of January’s 8-2 thrashing still fresh in their memories. But things have changed since then under Paulo Sousa who replacing Davide Nicola and has changed many aspects of the team. After spending two games sat on the bench, ‘Memo’ has been a first-choice starter since the Week 24 win over Monza.
He showed why today. In the first half, Ochoa made an excellent save to deny Ederson from putting Atalanta ahead - the first of the three great saves he made during the course of the match. According to data from SofaScore, the Mexico international had contact with the ball 47 times, made two saves from shots inside the penalty area and reached a score of 7.5 - making him the second best player in his team in the match.
FULL TIME
— US Salernitana 1919 (@OfficialUSS1919) May 13, 2023
Salernitana - Atalanta 1 - 0#SalernitanaAtalanta #macteanimo #forzagranata #uss1919#IPronosticiCheNonVorraiPerderti #ad pic.twitter.com/jaSxSMZg9j
The winning goal came three minutes into stoppage time when Antonio Candreva rifled in from the edge of the area to give his team three valuable points. Candreva had only entered the game as a sub on 80 minutes yet his strike may well be enough to make sure that Salernitana have now avoided any chance of dropping back down to Serie B. Salernitana made their return to the top flight in 2021 after a 23-year wait.
🇱🇻 Famiglia ❤️#SalernitanaAtalanta #macteanimo #forzagranata #salernitana #uss1919 #serieA pic.twitter.com/5Fx3iJsFNl
— US Salernitana 1919 (@OfficialUSS1919) May 13, 2023
Almost safe
The victory leaves Salernitana on 38 points in 15th place - eight points clear of the relegation zone with three games left to play. Out of those in the bottom three, only Spezia, in 18th on 30 points could overtake Ochoa’s team between now and the end of the season, although that seems unlikely as they would need to win all of their remaining games and Salernitana to lose all of theirs.