Torino drew 1-1 with Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday afternoon, in an tight contest which could have gone either way.
Both goals came in the second half, as Fabio Quagliarella put the home side ahead only for Khouma Babacar to hit an equaliser. Babacar could have had a hat-trick had keeper Jean Francois Gillet not made two excellent saves in the first half.
The coaches will be disappointed their sides failed to snatch all three points in what was a quite entertaining game between two evenly matched sides.
Torino
Jean Francois Gillet – 6 – Unfortunate
Made at least three super saves to keep his side in the game but may have to take some blame for the Viola goal as he came off his line with very poor timing allowing Babacar an easy tap- in to score.
Nikola Maksimovic – 6 – Decent
Tried to get his side forward as often as possible from deep positions and defended quite well. Looks to be settling in at the Olimpico.
Kamil Glik – 6.5 – Tower
The massive Toro skipper won header after header and marshalled his troops expertly. Another consistent display from the defender.
Emiliano Moretti – 6 – Steady
Worked well with his two other centre backs and handled most of the incursions well enough down the left hand side.
Bruno Peres – 6.5 – Menacing
Pacey wing-back and assisted the Torino goal. Always a threat going forward and gave Manuel Pasqual a torrid afternoon.
Giuseppe Vives – 6 – Energy
Pressed well in midfield, shutting down any opponent that reached him. Every team needs hard workers like this in their line-up.
Alessandro Gazzi – 6 – Average
Suffocated the Fiorentina players with his ability to close down and ran himself into the ground. An impressive shift.
Matteo Darmian – 5.5 – Disappointing
The Italy international failed to get forward as often as his coach would have expected and when he did get up the field his delivery was poor. Missed a good chance, poking his shot well wide.
Juan Sanchez Mino – 6 – Industrious
Got himself in decent areas with the ball but just lacked that quality to make his possession punish the Viola. One nice effort in first half which drifted wide.
Omar El Kaddouri – 6 – Threat
Impressive effort from the trequartista as he moved along the length of the pitch, with plenty of trickery and great movement. Unfortunate to have been subbed.
Fabio Quagliarella – 7 – Quality
A danger and always looked the most likely to score for the home side. Settling in well now at his new club, playing confidently and taking his goal expertly.
Substitutes
Reuben Perez (57mins) – 5
Marco Benassi (73mins) – 5
Cristian Molinaro (86mins) – No vote
Fiorentina
Neto – 6.5 – Safe
A decent 90 minutes for the Brazilian keeper with a highlight being a top save from Quagliarella in the first period.
Micah Richards – 6 – Strong
Despite Vincenzo Montella saying the ex-Manchester City defender is still not match fit, Richards made some clean and well timed tackles suggesting he is not far from becoming a regular in the team.
Gonzalo Rodriguez – 6 – Commanding
Similar performance to his counter part Glik, put in some important tackles and keeping Quagliarella as far as possible from the goal.
Stefan Savic – 6 – Concentrated
Covered the spaces well and didn’t allow the fact that Torino played with two trequartisti confuse his defensive duties. Very disciplined.
Manuel Pasqual – 5.5 – Suffered
Attacked well enough but found it hard going looking after the quick Bruno Peres for 90 minutes. Probably lost the direct battle given that the Torino man got the assist for his team’s goal.
Jasmin Kurtic – 6 – Tidy
Beautiful technique from the ex-Sassuolo midfielder, looking for goal at every opportunity and rarely gave the ball away.
Milan Badelj – 5 – Anonymous
Was hardly in the game and the Croatian failed to make any impact. Hauled off early in the second half.
Matias Fernandes – 6.5 – Metronome
Kept the Fiorentina midfield ticking over, moving the ball around quickly and ensuring the Torino defence had no point of reference with his passing. Critical in the absence of David Pizarro.
Josip Ilicic – 5.5 – Blunt
A performance to forget as Ilicic looked poor in attack, with some wayward shooting and terrible passing. Fans would have expected more.
Borja Valero – 5 – Gutless
Given what we are used to seeing from the Spaniard, the midfielder failed to have any influence on the match. Poor passing and was not the threat he should have been.
Khouma Babacar – 7 – Decisive
Missed two great chances in first half but made no mistake with equaliser in just as Torino were looking to control the match. The most dangerous Viola player and deserved his goal given his effort.
Substitutes
David Pizarro (64mins) – 5.5
Alberto Aquilani (68mins) – 5
Federico Bernardeschi (78mins) – 6.5
