Lecce and Cremonese seal promotion to Serie A
Lecce and Cremonese have earned promotion to Serie A after an eventful final day of action in Italy's second tier.
Cremonese is back in the top tier of Italian football for the first time since 1995-1996, while Lecce returns after a two-season absence.
Four teams were battling it out for the two automatic promotion spots on Saturday (AEST), with Monza and Pisa also in contention.
Lecce led the way at the summit entering the final round of games and beat bottom side Pordenone 1-0 at home through a Zan Majer goal to see the job through.
Monza knew that it would join Lecce in the top flight had it defeated Perugia, but Gabriele Ferrarini's goal in the final five minutes condemned it to a shock 1-0 defeat.
Cremonese took full advantage by seeing off Como 2-1 at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia thanks to a couple of goals from Samuel Di Carmine.
That rendered Pisa's 2-1 victory at Frosinone meaningless in terms of the race for automatic promotion, with the Nerazzurri having to settle for a play-off semi-final spot.
Perugia's win against Lecce saw it book a play-off quarter-final place, where Brescia awaits, while Ascoli will meet Benevento.
It was just as lively at the opposite end of the division, meanwhile, as there was a three-way fight to avoid the one remaining relegation place.
Alessandria's 1-0 loss to fellow struggler Vincenza saw it join Pordenone and Crotone in dropping out of the division.
