Fiorentina 2-2 Torino: Cerci missed penalty denies Granata victory

Date: 18th May 2014 at 10:54pm
Written by:
Cerci – Torino

Fiorentina drew 2-2 with Torino at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday night in the final round of Serie A action.

Giuseppe Rossi opened the scores for the Viola and then Marcelo Larrondo equalised for the Granata. Ante Rebic regained the lead before Jasmic Kurtic equalised with an excellent free-kick. Toro nearly won it in the dying minutes but Alessio Cerci missed the vital penalty.

Juan Cuadrado tried to run onto a long pass but Torino goalkeeper Daniele Padelli charged out of his box to clear the ball away.

Padelli had to collect Manuel Pasqual’s cross with Borja Valero close to pouncing on the ball. Then the Toro keeper had to hold Alberto Aquilani’s long-range effort.

Giuseppe Rossi’s dipping and bending shot forced an excellent fingertip save out of Padelli.

Riccardo Meggiorini’s volley forced a corner for Torino and later on Padelli punched a Fiorentina corner away.

Alessio Cerci went on a slalom run and found Omar El Kaddouri in space but he drilled his shot wide.

Facundo Roncaglia’s long-range effort from about 35 metres was caught by Padelli.

The Granata were slowly getting into the match. Kurtic’s volley was saved by Antonio Rosati in the Fiorentina goal and Panagiotis Tachtsidis tried his luck from distance but to no avail.

Emiliano Moretti collided with Cuardrado but no penalty was given by Nicola Rizzoli, who thought the contact was unintentional.

Scores were level at half-time but the Viola controlled most of the play. Despite this, they struggled to created any clear chances in the last 10-15 minutes of the half.

Kurtic had the first shot of the second half but it was off target and Aquilani’s long-range shot for the Viola went over the bar.

Giuseppe Vives received a yellow card for fouling Cuadrado in the penalty box. From the resulting penalty, Rossi sent Padelli the wrong way and put the Gigliati 1-0 up after 57 minutes.

Torino almost equalised after the Fiorentina goal but Meggiorini’s header went wide. El Kaddouri then had a volley deflected away. Aquilani had a shot from just outside of the penalty box was parried away.

Toro levelled the scores after 67 minutes through substitute Larrondo, who had replaced Tachtsidis. Cerci went on a rapid run down the right-wing and his low cross found the Argentine, who ran into the box and tapped the ball into the net.

Emiliano Moretti thought that he had put Torino ahead after 74 minutes but the goal was disallowed because of a push by Larrondo on Gonzalo Rodriguez in the build-up.

Cuadrado received a yellow card after retaliating after a Matteo Darmian challenge. Barreto created a chance for Larrondo, whose side-volley forced good save out of Rosati.

Fiorentina regained the lead after 79 minutes through Rebic. The Viola counterattacked after Toro corner, with Cuardrado sprinting down the middle and he found Rebic on the left, who ran into the box and smashed the ball just below the crossbar.

Kurtic made it 2-2 with a thunderous free-kick after 84 minutes. After a teammate ran over the ball, Kurtic took a shot which had both swerve and power in it and the ball flew into Rosati’s left corner.

Rebic was trying to get the Viola’s lead back and he was also looking for his second goal but his bending shot did not hit the target.

Torino were going for the winner and they almost got it in stoppage time. Cerci stepped-up to take the penalty but Rosati saved the Toro winger’s effort and the Granata miss out on European football for next season.

 

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