Venezia are in the Serie B promotion play-off Final after a 1-1 draw with Lecce, winning 2-1 on aggregate, as Marco Mancosu missed a penalty.
The first leg ended 1-0 for the Lagunari, so the hosts poured forward from the start trying to get the tie back on track.
Christian Maggio’s strike was deflected wide, then Liam Henderson saw his effort flapped at by Niki Maenpaa, it bounced off teammate Cristian Molinaro, hit the crossbar and landed back in the goalkeeper’s arms.
Venezia are in the Serie B promotion play-off Final after a 1-1 draw with Lecce, winning 2-1 on aggregate, as Marco Mancosu missed a penalty.
The first leg ended 1-0 for the Lagunari, so the hosts poured forward from the start trying to get the tie back on track.
Christian Maggio’s strike was deflected wide, then Liam Henderson saw his effort flapped at by Niki Maenpaa, it bounced off teammate Cristian Molinaro, hit the crossbar and landed back in the goalkeeper’s arms.
Just as Lecce were dominating, Venezia were awarded a penalty for Maggio’s tackle on Michael Svoboda and Mattia Aramu converted.
The Salentini continued to throw everything forward, Massimo Coda’s attempt fingertipped round the upright, until they did get their equaliser.
Panagiotis Tachtsidis got his head to a corner, forcing a great save, but Fabio Lucioni pulled back from the by-line for Stefano Pettinari to prod home the rebound.
There was more drama when Lecce also had a penalty for Youssef Maleh’s handling offence, charging down the Maggio strike from point-blank range.
Marco Mancosu stepped up, but incredibly blasted the spot-kick over the bar.
Lecce pushed to the very end, Luca Paganini unable to get a clean header on a corner at the back post in stoppages.
The other semi-final this evening is between Monza and Cittadella.
Lecce 1-1 Venezia (1-2 agg)
Aramu pen 45 (V), Pettinari 65 (L)
Missed penalty: Mancosu 80 (L)