Verona rock-bottom after losing 8th in a row at Monza
Milan, Nov 6, 2022 (AFP) - Verona slumped to the bottom of Serie A on Sunday after falling to a 2-0 defeat at promoted Monza, their eighth loss in a row.
Second-half strikes from Carlos Augusto and Andrea Colpani handed Monza their first win in four matches and left 10-man Verona on five points from 13 matches.
Verona, who lost Giangiacomo Magnani to a red card midway through the first half, have shown no signs of improvement since sacking Gabriele Cioffi and promoting novice Salvatore Bocchetti from the youth team last month.
Bocchetti, who only quit playing last year, has lost all four of his matches and manages a team which looks under real threat of being relegated to Serie B.
Verona have won just once, stark contrast to last campaign which was one of the club's best in years.
The starring trio from last term -- Giovanni Simeone, Gianluca Caprari and Antonin Barak -- have all left the club.
Verona are a point behind Sampdoria, who lost 2-0 at home to Fiorentina, and Cremonese who drew 2-2 at Salernitana on Saturday.
Monza stay 15th but are seven points clear of the relegation zone in their first ever Serie A season and were cheered on in the stands by stabbing victim Pablo Mari.
On-loan Arsenal defender Mari was one of several people attacked in a Carrefour in Assago, on the outskirts of Milan in northern Italy, by a man who killed an employee from the supermarket after grabbing a knife from a shelf.
Earlier, fragile Torino forward Pietro Pellegri suffered yet another injury blow when he fell over and injured his ankle at kick-off of his team's 2-1 loss at 12th-placed Bologna.
Pellegri, who has one cap for Italy, slipped over just three seconds into the loss at the Stadio Dall'Ara and limped off the field in the fourth minute following treatment.
In May 2017, Pellegri became the first player born in 2001 to score in Serie A, netting against Roma aged just 16 in Francesco Totti's final match for Roma.
Early the following year he was sold to Monaco from Genoa for 21 million euros, but injuries have plagued the 21-year-old's career ever since and he was sold to Torino at a big loss this summer.
Later on Sunday Roma host the first capital city derby with Lazio of the season, before a bumper weekend's action culminates with Juventus taking on arch rivals Inter Milan in Turin.
Juventus confirmed that star striker Dusan Vlahovic is still out injured with two weeks to go before the World Cup kicks off in Qatar.
However, Argentina winger Angel Di Maria returns to the Juve squad after nearly a month out with a thigh injury.