Fiorentina beat Portuguese side Belenenses 4-0 at the Estadio do Restelo in Group I of the Europa league on Thursday evening.
The Tuscans picked up their first win of the competition after youngsters Federico Bernardeschi and Khouma Babacar scored a goal each in the first half before Giuseppe Rossi topped of the proceedings. The win moves Fiorentina up to second in the Group I table.
Fiorentina dominated the opening play and it was Croatian youngster Ante Rebic who looked the most dangerous in the first few minutes as he put the home side on alert with two close range shots, both of which dipped just over the bar.
The Viola continued their dominance although they almost conceded a freak goal against play, after Marcos Alonso gave away a free-kick in the middle of the pitch. The Lisbon side whipped the ball into the area, beating the entire Fiorentina backline, and had one of Luis Leal or Kuca made contact then it would have surely been 1-0.
However, the ball ended up in the back of the net on the other side of the pitch just seconds later. Matias Vecino picked up the ball from the resulting goal-kick, and worked his way towards goal before unleashing a strong shot. The strike was parried though an alert Federico Bernardeschi was on hand to poke it back past the keeper.
Belenenses were then struck another blow in the 40th minute, as midfielder Fabio Sturgeon was forced off with a knee injury.
The visitors took advantage of the weekend side as they scored once more, this time with Senegalese striker Khouma Babacar, who beat Hugo Ventura with a deflected shot from outside the box.
Kuca almost dragged a goal back for his side with their first shot on target 10 minutes into the second half, though he was denied by a smart save from Luigi Sepe.
From then on the Portuguese side failed to register another shot at goal, with their only other significant action in the game coming in the form of an own goal 5 minutes from time.
Veteran defender Atonio Tonel slid in to intercept a Giuseppe Rossi shot though rather unfortunately knocked the ball into his own net. Rossi then added to Belenenses misery soon after by slotting in his first goal of the season, and securing the Gigliati a 4-0 win.
