# 2018–19 Empoli FC season

The 2018–19 season was Empoli Football Club's 83rd in existence and 13th season in Serie A. It was the club's first season back in the top-flight after suffering relegation at the end of the 2016–17 season.

## Players
### Squad information

    As of 22 February 2019
    Appearances include league matches only
| No. | Name | Position(s) | Date of birth (Age) | Signed from | Signed in | Contract ends | Apps. | Goals | Notes |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||
| 1 | Ivan Provedel | GK | (1991-10-06) 6 October 1991 (age 33) | Chievo | 2017 | 2021 | 38 | 0 | |
| 21 | Filippo Perucchini | GK | (1997-08-19) 19 August 1997 (age 27) | Ascoli | 2019 | 2020 | 0 | 0 | |
| 69 | Bartłomiej Drągowski | GK | (1997-08-19) 19 August 1997 (age 27) | Fiorentina | 2019 | 2019 | 2 | 0 | Loan |
| Defenders |||||||||||
| 2 | Giovanni Di Lorenzo | RB | (1993-08-04) 4 August 1993 (age 31) | Matera | 2017 | 2022 | 60 | 2 | |
| 5 | Frédéric Veseli | CB / RB / LB | (1992-11-20) 20 November 1992 (age 31) | Lugano | 2016 | 2021 | 67 | 0 | |
| 13 | Luca Antonelli | LB | (1987-02-11) 11 February 1987 (age 37) | Milan | 2018 | 2021 | 10 | 0 | |
| 15 | Lorenzo Polvani | CB | (1994-07-26) 26 July 1994 (age 30) | SPAL | 2017 | 2020 | 7 | 0 | |
| 22 | Domenico Maietta | CB | (1982-08-03) 3 August 1982 (age 42) | Bologna | 2018 | 2019 | 31 | 1 | |
| 23 | Manuel Pasqual | LB | (1982-03-13) 13 March 1982 (age 42) | Fiorentina | 2016 | 2019 | 86 | 7 | Captain |
| 26 | Matías Silvestre | CB | (1984-09-25) 25 September 1984 (age 40) | Sampdoria | 2018 | 2019 | 25 | 2 | |
| 32 | Jacob Rasmussen | CB / DM | (1997-05-28) 28 May 1997 (age 27) | Rosenborg | 2018 | 2022 | 11 | 0 | |
| 34 | Kevin Diks | RB / CB / LB | (1996-10-06) 6 October 1996 (age 28) | Fiorentina | 2019 | 2020 | 0 | 0 | |
| 39 | Cristian Dell'Orco | LB | (1994-02-10) 10 February 1994 (age 30) | Sassuolo | 2019 | 2019 | 3 | 0 | Loan |
| 43 | Dimitris Nikolaou | CB / LB | (1998-08-13) 13 August 1998 (age 26) | Olympiacos | 2019 | 2019 | 0 | 0 | Loan |
| Midfielders |||||||||||
| 4 | Matteo Brighi | CM | (1981-02-14) 14 February 1981 (age 43) | Perugia | 2018 | 2019 | 18 | 1 | |
| 6 | Marko Pajač | LB / CM / LM | (1993-05-11) 11 May 1993 (age 31) | Cagliari | 2019 | 2019 | 1 | 0 | Loan |
| 8 | Hamed Junior Traorè | AM | (2000-02-16) 16 February 2000 (age 24) | Youth Sector | 2017 | 2022 | 30 | 0 | |
| 10 | Ismaël Bennacer | CM | (1997-12-01) 1 December 1997 (age 26) | Arsenal | 2017 | 2021 | 63 | 2 | |
| 18 | Afriyie Acquah | CM | (1992-01-05) 5 January 1992 (age 32) | Torino | 2018 | 2019 | 19 | 1 | |
| 28 | Leonardo Capezzi | DM / CM | (1995-03-28) 28 March 1995 (age 29) | Sampdoria | 2018 | 2019 | 9 | 0 | Loan |
| 33 | Rade Krunić | CM / AM | (1993-10-07) 7 October 1993 (age 31) | Borac Čačak | 2015 | 2021 | 105 | 12 | |
| 48 | Salih Uçan | CM / AM | (1994-01-06) 6 January 1994 (age 30) | Fenerbahçe | 2018 | 2019 | 8 | 1 | Loan |
| Forwards |||||||||||
| 7 | Levan Mchedlidze | CF | (1990-03-24) 24 March 1990 (age 34) | Youth Sector | 2008 | 2019 | 152 | 17 | |
| 11 | Francesco Caputo | CF | (1987-08-06) 6 August 1987 (age 37) | Virtus Entella | 2017 | 2021 | 66 | 38 | |
| 17 | Diego Farias | SS / RW / LW | (1990-05-10) 10 May 1990 (age 34) | Cagliari | 2019 | 2019 | 4 | 1 | Loan |
| 20 | Antonino La Gumina | CF | (1996-03-06) 6 March 1996 (age 28) | Palermo | 2018 | 2023 | 21 | 2 | |
| 37 | Dimitri Oberlin | CF / LW / SS | (1997-09-27) 27 September 1997 (age 27) | Basel | 2019 | 2019 | 2 | 0 | Loan |
| Players transferred during the season |||||||||||
| 6 | Miha Zajc | AM | (1994-07-01) 1 July 1994 (age 30) | Olimpija Ljubljana | 2017 | 2022 | 66 | 12 | |
| 9 | Alejandro Rodríguez | CF / RW / LW | (1991-07-03) 3 July 1991 (age 33) | Chievo | 2018 | 2019 | 6 | 4 | Loan |
| 17 | Lorenzo Lollo | CM | (1990-12-08) 8 December 1990 (age 33) | Carpi | 2017 | 2021 | 24 | 1 | |
| 19 | Arnel Jakupović | CF / AM | (1998-05-29) 29 May 1998 (age 26) | Youth Sector | 2017 | 2021 | 5 | 0 | |
| 21 | Pietro Terracciano | GK | (1990-03-08) 8 March 1990 (age 34) | Catania | 2017 | 2020 | 11 | 0 | |
| 27 | Joel Untersee | RB | (1994-02-11) 11 February 1994 (age 30) | Juventus | 2017 | 2021 | 18 | 0 | |
| 29 | Michał Marcjanik | CB | (1994-12-15) 15 December 1994 (age 29) | Arka Gdynia | 2018 | 2021 | 0 | 0 | |
| 66 | Samuel Mráz | CF / RW / LW | (1997-05-13) 13 May 1997 (age 27) | Žilina | 2018 | 2022 | 6 | 1 | |
| 99 | Andrea Fulignati | GK | (1994-10-31) 31 October 1994 (age 29) | Cesena | 2018 | 2021 | 0 | 0 | |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Pos. | Player | Age | Moving from | Fee | Notes |
| 1 July 2018 | DF | Simone Romagnoli | 28 | Bologna | Free | Loan return |
| 6 August 2018 | DF | Matías Silvestre | 33 | Sampdoria | Undisclosed | |
| 17 August 2018 | MF | Afriyie Acquah | 26 | Torino | €900,000 | |

#### Loans in

| Date | Pos. | Player | Age | Moving from | Fee | Notes | Source |
| 3 August 2018 | MF | Leonardo Capezzi | 23 | Sampdoria | Loan | Loan with an option to buy and counter-option | |

### Out

| Date | Pos. | Player | Age | Moving to | Fee | Notes | Source |

#### Loans out

| Date | Pos. | Player | Age | Moving to | Fee | Notes | Source |

## Competitions
### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 16 | Fiorentina | 38 | 8 | 17 | 13 | 47 | 45 | +2 | 41 | |
| 17 | Genoa | 38 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 39 | 57 | −18 | 38 | |
| 18 | Empoli (R) | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 51 | 70 | −19 | 38 | Relegation to Serie B |
| 19 | Frosinone (R) | 38 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 29 | 69 | −40 | 25 | Relegation to Serie B |
| 20 | Chievo (R) | 38 | 2 | 14 | 22 | 25 | 75 | −50 | 17 | Relegation to Serie B |
* ↑ Positions determined by head-to-head points: Parma: 9 pts; Cagliari: 7 pts; Fiorentina: 1 pt.
* 1 2 Genoa finished ahead of Empoli on head-to-head points: Genoa 2–1 Empoli, Empoli 1–3 Genoa.
* ↑ Chievo were deducted 3 points after being found guilty of false accounting.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 26 May 2019. Source: Competitive matches

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | L | D | L | L | D | L | L | D | L | L | W | W | D | W | L | L | L | L | D | L | D | L | W | L | D | L | W | L | W | L | D | L | L | W | W | W | L |
| Position | 2 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 18 |

#### Matches
### Coppa Italia
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Serie A | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Coppa Italia |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||
| 1 | GK | ITA | Ivan Provedel | 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | ITA | Filippo Perucchini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | GK | ITA | Gianluca Saro | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 69 | GK | POL | Bartłomiej Drągowski | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||
| 2 | DF | ITA | Giovanni Di Lorenzo | 31 | 3 | 30 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ALB | Frédéric Veseli | 25 | 0 | 23+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Luca Antonelli | 12 | 0 | 9+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Lorenzo Polvani | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | ITA | Domenico Maietta | 19 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | ITA | Manuel Pasqual | 21 | 1 | 13+7 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | ARG | Matías Silvestre | 31 | 2 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | DEN | Jacob Rasmussen | 12 | 0 | 9+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 34 | DF | NED | Kevin Diks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | DF | ITA | Cristian Dell'Orco | 7 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | DF | GRE | Dimitris Nikolaou | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||
| 4 | MF | ITA | Matteo Brighi | 6 | 0 | 1+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | CRO | Marko Pajač | 5 | 1 | 4+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | CIV | Hamed Traorè | 26 | 0 | 19+6 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | ALG | Ismaël Bennacer | 31 | 0 | 25+5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | GHA | Afriyie Acquah | 23 | 1 | 17+6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | ITA | Leonardo Capezzi | 10 | 0 | 8+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 33 | MF | BIH | Rade Krunić | 29 | 5 | 28 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 48 | MF | TUR | Salih Uçan | 12 | 1 | 1+11 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | MF | LIE | Marcel Büchel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||
| 7 | FW | GEO | Levan Mchedlidze | 10 | 0 | 0+9 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | ITA | Francesco Caputo | 32 | 14 | 31 | 14 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | BRA | Diego Farias | 10 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | ITA | Antonino La Gumina | 23 | 2 | 12+10 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 37 | FW | SUI | Dimitri Oberlin | 4 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Players transferred out during the season ||||||||||
| 6 | MF | SVN | Miha Zajc | 21 | 3 | 12+8 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Alejandro Rodríguez | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | ITA | Pietro Terracciano | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | RSA | Joel Untersee | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 66 | FW | SVK | Samuel Mráz | 6 | 1 | 2+4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 99 | GK | ITA | Andrea Fulignati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Last updated: 7 April 2019 Source: Competitions

### Goalscorers

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Total |
| 1 | 11 | FW | | Francesco Caputo | 14 | 0 | 14 |
| 2 | 33 | MF | | Rade Krunić | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | 2 | DF | | Giovanni Di Lorenzo | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | 6 | MF | | Miha Zajc | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | 17 | FW | | Diego Farias | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 20 | FW | | Antonino La Gumina | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 26 | DF | | Matías Silvestre | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | 6 | MF | | Marko Pajač | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 18 | MF | | Afriyie Acquah | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 23 | DF | | Manuel Pasqual | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 39 | DF | | Cristian Dell'Orco | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 48 | MF | | Salih Uçan | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 66 | FW | | Samuel Mráz | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 40 | 0 | 40 |
Last updated: 7 April 2019

### Clean sheets

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Total |
| 1 | 21 | GK | | Pietro Terracciano | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | 69 | GK | | Bartłomiej Drągowski | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Last updated: 7 April 2019

### Disciplinary record

| No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Serie A | Serie A | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Coppa Italia | Coppa Italia | Total | Total | Total |
| 69 | DF | | Bartłomiej Drągowski | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | | Giovanni Di Lorenzo | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | | Frédéric Veseli | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | | Luca Antonelli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | | Domenico Maietta | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | | Manuel Pasqual | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | | Matías Silvestre | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | | Jacob Rasmussen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | | Marko Pajač | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | | Miha Zajc | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | | Hamed Traorè | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | | Ismaël Bennacer | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | | Afriyie Acquah | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | | Leonardo Capezzi | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | MF | | Rade Krunić | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 48 | MF | | Salih Uçan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | | Levan Mchedlidze | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | | Francesco Caputo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | | Antonino La Gumina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 57 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 1 | 1 |
Last updated: 7 April 2019