Benevento and Pisa will lock horns in the Serie B promotion playoff semi-finals, with the first leg of the encounter set to take place at Stadio Ciro Vigorito on Tuesday night.
The home side beat Ascoli 1-0 on Friday evening to set up the contest with Pisa, who finished the regular season in third position, two points behind second-placed Cremonese.
Match preview
Benevento collected 63 points from their 38 matches during the regular season to finish in seventh spot in the Serie B table, and they took on Ascoli in the quarter-finals of the promotion playoffs on Friday.
A tight match was decided by just a single goal, with Gianluca Lapadula's 38th-minute effort ensuring that Benevento would progress to the semi-finals, with Pisa their opponents in the final four.
Fabio Caserta's side had actually lost their last three matches of the regular campaign but managed to pick up an important victory over Ascoli, and they will be bidding to secure an advantage on Tuesday ahead of the second leg away to Pisa on May 21.
Gli Stregoni finished 18th in the 2020-21 Serie A season to drop down into the second tier, so they are bidding to return to the top level at the first time of asking.
Caserta's team have actually lost 11 league matches this season, but they were the highest goalscorers during the regular season, finding the back of the net on 62 occasions.
Pisa, meanwhile, finished third in Serie B, picking up 67 points from their 38 matches, which left them two points behind second-placed Cremonese, who were automatically promoted.
The Black and Blues played in the third tier as recent as 2019, so it would be some achievement if they managed to earn promotion to the top flight of Italian football.
Luca D'Angelo's side ended their regular campaign with a 2-1 victory at Frosinone, and the club have only lost one of their last six matches, which came away to Lecce at the end of April.
Pisa suffered a 5-1 defeat when they travelled to Benevento at the start of last month, but they ran out 1-0 winners when the pair locked horns at Arena Garibaldi last November.
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Team News
Benevento's squad is in strong shape heading into the contest, with the home side not reporting any fresh concerns following their win over Ascoli.
As a result, it would not be a surprise to see the same starting XI take to the field for this match, with Lapadula once again operating in the middle of a front three.
Lapadula has scored 12 league goals this term and should be supported by Andres Tello and Riccardo Improta, while experienced centre-back Kamil Glik will again be in the starting XI.
Pisa, meanwhile, will be the fresher of the two sides, having not been in action since May 6, when they finished their season with a 2-1 win at Frosinone.
Like Benevento, the visitors have no fresh injury concerns, and it is again expected to be a 4-3-1-2 formation, with George Puscas featuring in the final third of the field.
Puscas has eight league goals to his name this term, while Lorenzo Lucca and Giuseppe Sibilli have 11 between them, and the pair should also be included in the starting XI for the away side.
Benevento possible starting lineup:
Paleari; Letizia, Glik, Barba, Masciangelo; Ionita, Caio, Acampora; Tello, Lapadula, Improta
Pisa possible starting lineup:
Nicolas; Birindelli, Leverbe, Hermannsson, Beruatto; Siega, Nagy, Marin; Sibilli; Puscas, Lucca
We say: Benevento 2-1 Pisa
Pisa will enter the match in the better form and will also have had much longer to prepare for this contest, but Benevento have a lot of quality in the final third, and we are backing the home side to secure a narrow advantage ahead of the second leg.
For additional data used by our team to analyse our suggested result please click here.
Top tip
Matt Law
