Benevento sent back to Serie B after eventful top-flight debut

Benevento's famous win over AC Milan only delayed the inevitable.

The struggling Serie A debutant was relegated from the league following Crotone's late victory over Udinese on Sunday.

Roberto De Zerbi's men beat the Rossoneri at the San Siro on Saturday to claim their first away win in the Italian top flight, but a historically bad start to the season - including 14 consecutive defeats - made it impossible to escape the drop.

The second half of the season saw a much improved Benevento, with wins coming against Chievo, Sampdoria, Crotone, Hellas Verona, and, of course, Milan. De Zerbi earned plaudits for getting his limited side to play adventurous attacking football while battling the spectre of relegation. Averaging a respectable 46.8 percent possession, Benevento didn't compromise its style in search of salvation.

It also suffered defeats in gut-wrenching fashion. Penalties were conceded well after the 90th minute to strip Benevento of precious points, which was enough to convince club president Oreste Vigorito that his team had been cursed.

There were humiliating results over the whole of the season - particularly the 6-0 thrashing at Napoli and the 5-2 and 6-2 embarrassments against Roma and Lazio, respectively - but narrow misses as well. Nearly half of Benevento's 27 defeats were decided by a single goal.