After eight seasons spent in Serie A, Catania will spend 2014-2015 in Serie B. Despite beating Bologna on Sunday, Chievo's win over Cagliari means that even if Catania take three points against Atalanta on the final matchday, they won't have enough to climb out of the drop zone.
What makes their relegation doubly painful is the fact that Sicilian rivals Palermo, sent down last year, clinched promotion back to Serie A last week. It also doesn't help that last season was Catania's most successful in the top flight, with the side challenging for Europe and ultimately finishing eighth.
Painful, and puzzling -- no one can quite work out just how Catania fell so far, so fast. Losing Francesco Lodi and Alejandro Gomez couldn't have helped, but the return of Lodi on loan hasn't really boosted the squad. They started the season with the same coach, Rolando Maran, only to sack him, bring him back, and sack him again when he couldn't save the side. No formula seemed to work.
So now here we are, with Catania down in Serie B. At this point, they've got 29 points from seven wins, eight draws and 22 losses. Sunday's game marked their first road win of the season. Well done, Elephants.