Venezia simply needed a victory in this relegation battle between the bottom two and squeezed past Monza with Daniel Fila’s debut Serie A goal.
This was a battle between the bottom two, but while Alessandro Nesta’s Monza have looked doomed for a while, the Lagunari still had hope. The hosts were without a victory since December, but lost only one of their last six games. Joel Schingtienne, Filip Stankovic, Richie Sagrado and Michael Svoboda missed out. The visitors were without Danilo D’Ambrosio, Kevin Zeroli, Matteo Pessina and suspended Georgios Kyriakopoulos.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
Ionut Radu had to make a tricky reaction save in the opening minutes on a deflected Dany Mota Carvalho header from a corner, then Stefano Turati had to slap a sensational Hans Nicolussi Caviglia in-swinging free kick onto the crossbar.
Monza lost Keita Balde Diao to a muscular injury after just 26 minutes, with Turati again called into action as Jay Idzes nodded down a set play for Alessandro Marcandalli’s volley from six yards.
Paolo Bianco charged down the Nicolussi Caviglia strike and Alessandro Birindelli curled wide, but Monza were forced into another change for Armando Izzo’s injury.
Mikael Ellertsson had penalty appeals, but he seemed to cut across Pedro Pereira and seek contact, while Nicolussi Caviglia’s free kick was just over the bar.
Venezia finally broke the deadlock with the first Serie A goal for their January signing Fila. Ellertsson snuck up behind Birindelli on a ball over the top down the left, pulled back from the by-line and found Fila sliding in to meet it from six yards. It ended a run of four consecutive home matches without scoring for the Lagunari.
Nicolussi Caviglia almost got another a few minutes later, intelligently scooping a free kick over the wall from the edge of the area, forcing Turati to scramble across and flap it out of the near top corner.
Issa Doumbia also flashed a finish across the face of goal for Venezia, while Radu smothered a Caprari effort.
Fila went from hero to villain in stoppages, as he was sent off for his second bookable offence on Tomas Palacios and will be suspended for the next showdown against Empoli.
Venezia 1-0 Monza
Fila 72 (V)
Sent off: Fila 95 (V)
