Friday night’s Fiorentina v Juventus clash will give one of the players in purple the chance to add their name to men who have ensured hero status at the Artemio Franchi in this fixture.
Diego Fuser. Gabriel Batistuta. ‘Lulu’ Oliveira. Giancarlo Antognoni. Giuseppe Rossi. You can ensure that the grappa will forever be on the house in Florence if you can manage to find a way past their hated ‘hunchbacked’ rivals from Piedmont.
The man best poised to add himself to the illustrious group to help inflict great pain upon the Bianconeri, and in turn really blow the title race wide open, is Mario Gomez.
For the German bomber is back. His Fiorentina career has been frustratingly stop-start but after 259 days without a Serie A goal, all of that came to an end in Sardinia last weekend.
To say the former Bayern Munich man looked relieved would be an understatement. He had last hit the back of the net against Chievo on March 16 but two troublesome injuries plagued him since then and cost him not only a World Cup place but also a World Cup winner’s medal.
But last weekend, he repaid all of the faith that the club and Vincenzo Montella showed in him, so much so that he wore the captain’s armband when hitting the back of the net against Cagliari. “It has taken a great weight off me,” a delighted and relieved Gomez said afterwards.
Now that the weight has been lifted, his attention will turn to taking down the Bianconeri. He has previous against them remember. While Rossi and Joaquin took the plaudits in last season’s incredible 4–2 win for their goals, Gomez came so close to scoring the goal that would knock Juventus out of the Europa League later in the campaign.
His away goal in a 1–1 draw in Turin looked like it would be enough to seal the Fiorentina’s progress at the expense of their bitterest rivals, until a stunning Andrea Pirlo free-kick at home robbed them of that opportunity.
It has been an exasperating time so far for Gomez in Italy, for himself as much as the club and fans. Nobody doubts his quality, a man who scored goals for fun in the Bundesliga does not need to prove he is a high-class marksman.
But despite his goal last weekend, there were signs that he is not back to his best quite yet. He blocked a teammate’s header at goal inadvertently, and looked a little sluggish before finally hitting the back of the net with a composed finish.
He needs a game, or a goal, or a performance, that will help him regain his confidence and re-instill the fans’ trust in him. The league leaders provide him with the ideal platform to do exactly that.
The history and rivalry involving Roberto Baggio, Liam Brady, riots, insults and much more needs no recounting. It is a big stage and Gomez can use it to propel himself back into favour.
As promising a talent as Khouma Babacar is, he is still the epitome of a raw talent. Rossi remains on the road to recovery while Josip Ilicic cannot seem to go a few days without sparking the ire of his own fans in one way or another.
So what an ideal time it is then for Gomez to relaunch his Italian adventure. He needs goals and the club needs his goals — who better to find them against than their bitterest of foes?
Follow Padraig Whelan on Twitter at: @PWhelan88
