How do you avoid facing the club you deliberately relegated? You retire!

Does the name Andrea Masiello mean anything to you? To the lovers of Italian football, this name may ring a bell, but the rest of the world is probably unfamiliar with the life and legacy of the 40-year-old.

However, for the fans of the Italian Serie B side, Bari, this name represents many things. It reminds them of betrayal, disloyalty, and dishonour. Andrea Masiello is their archenemy.

And once upon a time, he was one of their own...

A product of Luchesse and Juventus' youth systems, Masiello never got a proper chance in either side's senior squads and was forced to pursue his career elsewhere in the unforgiving football world.

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He briefly found it on loan at Avellino midway through the first decade of the 21st century, but then disappointing spells with Siena and Genoa followed. Up until 2008, Masiello was like an "ugly duckling", unable to find his place in the sun. And then, Bari gave him everything he dreamed of...

Eighteen years ago, the centre-back and the club from Stadio Comunale San Nicola met for the first time when the player joined them on loan from Genoa. A loan deal soon became a permanent transfer, as Masiello finally found a team that believed in him for the first time in his career.

For three years, Masiello fought tooth and nail for Bari, as part of a generation that returned the popular Galletti to the Italian top flight after nine years and finished 10th the following season.

Andrea Masiello in action for Bari (©Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images)

And then came May 15, 2011...

Bari were already doomed to relegation, but the team that arrived at Stadio Comunale San Nicola, their fierce rivals in the Derby di Puglia, Lecce, still had a realistic chance to survive. And the Galletti could drag them down with them.

The visitors had been up since the 51st minute when Jedaias Capucho Neves put them in front, but the defining moment of the game occurred ten minutes before the end, when Masiello diverted the ball into his own net, securing Lecce's victory and Serie A survival.

And it would have simply passed under the radar - after all, he was neither the first nor the last player who scored an own goal - if it hadn't been discovered that he did it on purpose!

It turned out that Masiello was part of a major match-fixing scandal in Italy and that he received between €50,000 and €100,000 for keeping Lecce's head above water.

He confessed the deed and was given a 22-month suspended prison sentence and was banned from football for 26 months. Those sanctions have long expired, but the rage of Bari fans never will.

Masiello continued his career at Atalanta, Genoa, and, most recently, Sudtirol. Ten times his teams encountered the Galletti, and he skipped every single game!

Andrea Masiello's record against Bari (©Transfermarkt)

The 11th meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow, as Bari and Sudtirol are supposed to face off in the first leg of the Serie B relegation play-offs final, at Stadio Comunale San Nicola.

The home fans have been eagerly waiting to see which excuse Masiello will hide behind this time to avoid facing them, and he came up with the ultimate one - retirement!

Yes, you read it right.

Six days before the clash in Bari, the 40-year-old centre-back announced he'd hang up his boots, and many believe the timing was no coincidence.

Therefore, the Galletti fans apparently won't get the pleasure of seeing their "old friend" and “greeting" him one last time. Still, Masiello's disgrace will live on forever.

If you ask the Bari fans, they won't consider justice served even if their lads beat Sudtirol in the upcoming clash and directly relegate them. However, if that indeed happens, no one should be surprised.

It will undoubtedly be Masiello's curse.