Fiorentina beats Atalanta to prevent the Europa League champion from finishing 3rd. Venezia promoted
ROME (AP) — Europa Conference League runner-up Fiorentina beat Europa League champion Atalanta 3-2 in a postponed Serie A match on Sunday to conclude the Italian season and prevent the Bergamo squad from finishing third.
There was also injury concern for Italy’s European Championship squad when Atalanta defender Giorgio Scalvini appeared to injure his knee in the final minutes— a day before he's due to report to the Azzurri.
Andrea Belotti scored twice and Nicolas Gonzalez also found the target for Fiorentina.
Ademola Lookman and Scalvini scored for Atalanta.
The game was rescheduled from March when former Fiorentina general manager Joe Barone fell ill. Barone then died two days later.
Atalanta finished fourth, two points behind Juventus, and Fiorentina finished eighth.
VENEZIA PROMOTED
Venezia returned to Serie A following a two-season absence with a 1-0 win over Cremonese in the second leg of a promotion playoff final.
Christian Gytkjaer scored in the 24th minute for Venezia following a 0-0 draw in the first leg.
Venezia, which finished third in the Serie B table, joins Parma and Como as the teams promoted from the second division.
It was Gytkjaer’s sixth goal in the Serie B playoffs, having also helped Monza reach the top flight in 2022.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
