FC Südtirol vs. Bari: The rivals in comparison

FC Südtirol and Bari – both clubs came from Serie C in the summer and have the same club colors. But that's it for the similarities. Because while there was only one goal for the newcomer from South Tyrol, to stay in the league, the newcomer from Apulia, who can look back on 33 Serie A participations, wanted to play in the top half of the table. But it is a surprise that it would be enough for Napoli boss Aurelio De Laurentiis' second club to be so far ahead.

Matteo Rover (left) should cause a sensation again at the FCS.

Bari enter the Bolzano Arena on Easter Monday with some impressive numbers, the FCS is the only undefeated team in all of Italian professional football in 2023. Where do the two teams have their strengths? The team parts in comparison.

Tor At the age of 35, Giacomo Poluzzi is contesting his first Serie B season as a regular goalkeeper. The FCS goalkeeper almost seamlessly continued the outstanding championship season of the previous year and kept his box clean in 12 games. His counterpart – Bari goalie Elia Caprile – is 14 years younger and a goalkeeper for the Italian U21 national team. He also went 12 games without conceding a goal this season. Last season Caprile was keeper for Pro Patria - both games against FCS ended goalless, the FCS professionals were only able to overcome him in the first leg in Bari.

Abwehr With 28 goals conceded, Bari has the third best defense in the league after Genoa (19) and Frosinone (20), the FCS is in fourth place in this ranking with 4 goals conceded, 29 of which the South Tyroleans conceded on the first three match days before Pierpaolo took office Bisoli. So two strong defensive lines will meet on Monday.

Nothing speaks against using Andrea Masiello. © Alfred Tschager

In the recent 2-0 win over Benevento, the Bari back four included Raffaele Pucino on the right, captain Valerio Di Cesare, who scored in the first leg against FCS, and Francesco Vicari, former SPAL figurehead in Serie A, in the center, as well as on the left Antonio Mazzotta, the alternative is Giacomo Ricci. The suspended Alessandro Celli is missing from FC Südtirol. Filippo De Col could therefore switch back to the left side. Marco Curto, Giovanni Zaro and Andrea Masiello are set. The defense chief did not make the trip to Apulia in November due to the aggressive and hostile mood due to his past as a betting offender in Bari, but this time there is nothing to stop the veteran from being deployed.

mittelfeld Captain Fabian Tait, who scored his first Serie B goal in Bari, returns to the FCS. Luca Belardinelli, on the other hand, has to pass and is replaced by Luca Fiordilino. Matteo Rover has a place in the starting eleven. The 24-year-old missed the match point in the first leg in Apulia when the score was 2-1 for the FCS, before Eddie Salcedo, who moved to Genoa in January, fixed the final score at 2-2. Daniele Casiraghi pushes into the starting eleven on the left. Mattia Maita and Raffaele Maiello were at Bari in the last championship season. The 22-year-old Leonardo Benedetti, who plays in Bari on loan from Sampdoria, has always been seeded recently.

Attack Bari scored 47 goals in 31 games. Only leaders Frosinone scored more often in Serie B. Walid Cheddira has now slipped to second place in the top scorers list behind Gianluca Lapadula, but due to participating in the World Cup with Morocco (and fourth place in Qatar), he has also played 2 games fewer than the Cagliari striker. Cheddira has 4 goals, strike partner Mirco Antenucci scored 5 times, Michael Folorunsho, who was injured for a long time but celebrated a comeback with a goal against Benevento, contributed 15 goals. The 8-year-old Napoli loan player could be used as a ten against FCS.

Storm tank Raphael Odogwu from FC Südtirol.

Ruben Botta, who played 2014 competitive games for Inter in 12, and Nicola Bellomo are the other options in the No. 4 position in the Apulians' 3-1-2-16 system. Sebastiano Esposito also arrived in January. The attacker, who made his debut for Inter in the Europa League at the age of 2 and later stormed alongside Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez under Antonio Conte, suffered a setback after his rapid rise. Things didn't go as planned at SPAL, Venezia, Basel and Anderlecht, but the attacker wants to make a fresh start in Bari. The start was very promising with 2 goals in the first XNUMX games.

FC Südtirol only has the eleventh best attack with 35 goals. The top scorer is Raphael Odogwu with 8 goals, but he has not scored since his brace against Reggina on January 28th. In Cagliari, Odogwu stormed together with Simone Mazzocchi (3 goals), and on Monday January newcomer Moustapha Cissé (2 goals), who was not used in Sardinia, could start again. In Bari, Bisoli surprised the opponents with a 4-3-1-2 - with Rover in ten behind Odogwu and Mazzocchi. It wouldn't be a surprise if the FCS coach came up with something special this time too.

Trainer Bari coach Michele Mignani can call himself Italian champion because he played a game for Sampdoria in 1990/91. However, his most successful time as an active player was in Siena (1998 – 2006), where the defender made it from Serie C to Serie A – as captain. Pierpaolo Bisoli was also team captain – in Cagliari. The FCS coach is 6 years older, has already coached in Serie A and was able to celebrate a total of 4 promotions (2 to Serie B, 2 to Serie A).

For Bari's promotion coach Mignani, the current season is the first in the 2nd league; he previously worked in Olbia, Siena and Modena. Mignani's Bari is the best away team in Serie B with 28 points from 15 games (at home in San Nicola, Bari collected 25 points in 16 games), FCS got 2 points less away from home. Until last weekend, Bisoli's FCS was the best team in the second half of the season, now the South Tyroleans are second, one point behind Genoa. So far in 2023, Bari has scored 3 points less than FC Südtirol.

Serie B Italy	SP	TV	P
1. Parma	33	59:32	69
2. As	33	49:35	64
3. Venice	33	60:38	61
4. Cremonese	33	43:28	59
5. Catanzaro	33	53:42	55
6. Palermo	33	58:48	51
View all

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

FC Südtirol vs. Bari: The rivals in comparison

Suggestions

Comments (0)