Their 10 men heroically held on in last season’s play-off final second-leg against Cittadella, before a 93rd-minute goal sealed victory and triggered scenes of jubilation among the players and staff at the Pier Luigi Penzo Stadium, little more than a mile from the city’s iconic Piazza San Marco.
Those scenes were upstaged somewhat as the players, joined by a parade of boats and waved on from the bridges as supporters showed their gratitude on both land and water, took to the city’s canals in a unique celebration of their achievement.
“This is the way the club always celebrated,” Venezia’s technical director and former striker Paolo Poggi said.
“To see the happiness in the eyes of the players, the staff and the owners and to enjoy it with all the supporters on the bridges, for me it was like a dream, it was a dream come true.”
Poggi, who both started and ended his playing career with his hometown club before taking up his current role, added: “If I think of that moment I feel so happy, especially after a difficult year with Covid.
“In the past 12 years the club had a lot of problems, big problems. We lost an entire generation of supporters, we lost the soul of the club. It was not easy.
“Luckily we are still here but it could have been different.”
Ishaq Mustafa
