Cremonese were relegated to Serie B after a 4-1 defeat to Como at the Zini in the final match of the season, with Jamie Vardy involved in the move that briefly gave them hope but not enough to save them. The home side’s immediate return to the second division was sealed when Lecce led after five minutes in its own match, ending Cremonese’s chances of survival before the result in Cremona had even settled.
Vardy won a penalty for Cremonese, and Bonazzoli converted it, but that was as close as the hosts came to turning the night around. Como were already in control by then. A contested penalty awarded to Como in the 29th minute triggered furious protests and red cards for Grassi, Okereke and Djuric, before Douvikas doubled the visitors’ lead early in the second half from a Jesus Rodriguez pass. Da Cunha then converted from the spot to make it 4-1.
The defeat closed the book on a season that had once looked far more secure for Cremonese. They began with a splendid first half, climbed to above the middle of the table, and then unravelled after the turn of the year in what the article describes as a nightmare return in the second half of the campaign. The change on the bench from Nicola to Giampaolo did not alter the slide. By the final whistle, the damage was complete: one season in Serie A, and then straight back down.
What made the collapse so stark was how quickly the season moved from promise to panic. Cremonese’s squad still had enough names to trouble opponents — Bonazzoli, Grassi and Vardy among them — but the balance of the year had already gone. Once Lecce scored after five minutes, there was no route left back, and the final match merely confirmed what the second half of the season had been signalling for weeks.
For Cremonese, the result is less a single bad night than the end of a survival bid that fell apart long before the table was decided. For Vardy and the others on the pitch, the final score at the Zini leaves no ambiguity: the return to Serie B is immediate, and the next chapter begins there.
