Fiorentina defeated Greek outfit PAOK 1-0 at the Toumba Stadium on Thursday night in the Europa League.
Juan Vargas struck on the rebound to give the Viola the win and helped them stay top of the group.
The Tuscans’ started off brighter when Federico Bernardeschi latched onto a pass from Josip Ilicic but smashed his shot wide.
Milan Badelj then tried his luck from long range in the 20th minute but PAOK goalkeeper Panagiotis Glykos was equal to it.
Fiorentina finally broke the deadlock in the 38th minute when Ilicic played a neat pass inside to Vargas whose first effort was saved by Glykos but the keeper couldn’t deny his rebound which went into the top corner.
The Greeks nearly replied minutes later when Stefanos Athanasiadis went for goal from the edge of the box but Ciprian Tatarasanu caught well and the Viola led 1-0 at the interval.
Despite the home side looking more dangerous at the start of the second half, they did not create many chances and Fiorentina had the first real chance of the second half.
Substitute Juan Cuadrado injected a bit of pace in the side and created a goalscoring opportunity almost immediately. The colombian ran down the wing and played the ball across the box and Vargas side footed his shot off the post.
Cuadrado had an opportunity himself moments when he outpaced his marker and let fly from a tight angle and Glykos palmed it wide.
The Viola had another chance to double their lead in the 78th minute and it was Cuadrado again. Following a Greek corner, Cuadrado was played in down the left wing and the winger used his pace to get in on goal and Glykos pulled off a great save to deny his curling effort.
PAOK did not have many chances but five minutes from time, Ergys Kace sent in a drive on goal that whistled past the post.
The away side held out to make it three wins from three in the Europa League group stage and increase the lead over second place by five points.
