Before the game started, Ribery said an emotional farewell to the Salernitana fans following his retirement from football.
Once the goodbyes were said and done, the tension was palpable around the Stadio Arechi with both sides coming into the game without a win in their previous league outings.
While there was plenty of friction between the two sides on the pitch, the opening 45 minutes was almost entirely devoid of any high-quality attacking moves.
The stalemate held until the break, leaving both managers pondering the changes needed to open up a slow-paced affair in the second interval.
It did not take the Granata long to find the opener in the second half, however.
After a deflected ball found its way to Pasquale Mazzocchi on the edge of the box, the Italian curled an inch-perfect effort into the top-corner over the outstretched hand of the keeper.
A Krzysztof Piatek effort from nearly 30 yards clipped the crossbar on its way out, nearly seeing the hosts kill off Spezia in the final 20 minutes.
However, that would be the final big chance either side would see to light up the scoresheet, ensuring Salernitana collected all three points to jump into the top-half of the Serie A table.
While they’ve done well to remain outside of the bottom three so far this campaign, poor form away from home continues to ail Spezia, as they now find themselves without a win on the road this season, failing to score in all of those fixtures.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Pasquale Mazzocchi (Salernitana)
Let's take a moment to reflect on the impressive career of Franck Ribery:
