Serie A | Venezia 1-1 Verona: Derby draw boosts neither side

epa11857011 Venezias Alessio Zerbin celebrates after scoring the 1-0 goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Venezia FC and Hellas Verona FC in Venezia, Italy, 27 January 2025. EPA-EFE/Mattia Radoni

Alessio Zerbin scored in his first start for Venezia, but Jackson Tchatchoua topped off the Verona fightback as the Veneto Derby ends in a stalemate that leaves both in the bottom four.

This was not just a relegation battle, but also a fiery local derby in the Veneto region. Marin Sverko, Antonio Candela, Richie Sagrado and Michael Svoboda missed out for the hosts, while Joel Pohjanpalo started despite reports of a move to Palermo. Pawel Dawidowicz and Ondrej Duda were suspended for Hellas, along with injured Marco Davide Faraoni and Abdou Harroui.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Filip Stankovic stuck out a boot to parry from Suat Serdar’s slalom at the near post, but it was Venezia who took the lead with Alessio Zerbin celebrating his first start since the move from Napoli.

Zerbin started the move down the right, laying it off for the Pohjanpalo shot charged down, then continued his run to finish off the rebound.

Jay Idzes charged down the Tomas Suslov strike and Casper Tengstedt limped off with an ankle injury after a crunching tackle from debutant Fali Candé.

Verona stepped up the pressure after the restart, Stankovic smothering a Diego Coppola header and Ridgeciano Haps making a decisive interception as Amin Sarr was ready to tap in the low Domagoj Bradaric cross.

VENICE, ITALY - JANUARY 27: Jackson Tchatchoua of Verona celebrates his team's equalizing goal during the Serie A match between Venezia and Verona at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo on January 27, 2025 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images) — VENICE, ITALY – JANUARY 27: Jackson Tchatchoua of Verona celebrates his team’s equalizing goal during the Serie A match between Venezia and Verona at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo on January 27, 2025 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images)

Daniele Ghilardi’s free header also drifted wide from a corner and Serdar stung Stankovic’s gloves from outside the penalty area.

After a long period of pressure, Verona finally equalised when Daniel Mosquera started the run from midfield and pulled back from the by-line, Sarr’s attempted tap-in was blocked by a defender, but Jackson Tchatchoua managed to turn in the rebound from the tightest of angles.

Venezia threatened to restore their advantage against the run of play, Lorenzo Montipò getting down to fingertip a Gianluca Busio snooker shot round the upright.