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| Luca Marrone of AC Monza celebrates after scoring a goal during the SERIE B Palyoffs final between SC Pisa 1909 and AC Monza at Arena Garibaldi on May 29, 2022 in Pisa, Italy. |
Lombardy club Monza, owned by
former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, will play in Serie A for the
first time next season after winning a promotion playoff at Pisa 4-3 after
extra time on Sunday to secure a 6-4 aggregate victory.
Monza had beaten Pisa 2-1 in the first leg of the Serie B
playoff on Thursday, but a thrilling second leg saw them fall 2-0 behind before
levelling, only for a Giuseppe Mastinu goal for the hosts to send the tie into
extra time at 4-4.
Luca Marrone and Christian
Gytkjaer were the extra-time heroes for Monza, who held on despite having
Eugenio Lamanna sent off.
“We
fought for a year and we reached a historic milestone. Monza since [being
founded in] 1912 had never been in Serie A. We got there today. It’s a
wonderful thing for us and for all the citizens of Brianza,” Berlusconi
told Sky Sport Italia.
Monza
were in Serie C when Berlusconi’s Fininvest Group took over in 2018 and secured
promotion from the third tier in their second season. They lost out in the
Serie B playoffs last term.
Berlusconi
will next season get the chance to see his team taken on Italian champions AC
Milan, who the 85-year-old owned for three decades during their most successful
period.
Monza
will be the 69th club to play in Serie A and the 12th different side from
Lombardy. Lecce and Cremonese had already secured their top flight spots in the
regular season.
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