Fiorentina breezed past 10-men Atalanta with a 3-0 victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday night to retain top spot in Serie A.
Josip Ilicic converted an early penalty kick before Federico Bernardeschi set up Borja Valero for the second goal of the match before the break and substitute Joan Verdu put the nail in the coffin with his 90th minute volley.
Gabriel Paletta saw red in just the fifth minute of play after his desperate foul on Jakub Blaszczykowski’s surging run inside the penalty area resulted in a penalty kick and dismissal for the 29-year-old. Josip Ilicic continued his goalscoring exploits and confidently buried the ensuing spot kick to deflate all hope for the visitors for the next 85 minutes of action.
Marco Sportiello took on the mounted pressure admirably, stopping lethal shots from Borja Valero and Milan Badelj shortly after the early setback while also denying a brilliant cutting run and strike by Josip Ilicic in the 21st minute.
Sadly the Oribici keepers’ brilliance was not enough to prevent the Gigliati from doubling the lead with 10 minutes left before half-time. Federico Bernardeschi showed fantastic close control and vision alongside Borja Valero to thread a perfect pass inside the box for the Spaniard to easily convert his first goal of the season.
La Dea were left starving for possession and shooting opportunities and sent in plenty of dangerous crosses via Maxi Moralez and Alejandro Gomez in search of a potential scoring chance, but Gonzalo Rodriguez marshalled his back line expertly on the night.
Fiorentina kept their strangle hold firm for the second half, and last week’s hat-trick hero Nikola Kalinic looked destined to hit the back of the net once again throughout the match. Substitute Joan Verdu came on in the 75th minute and almost immediately assisted the Croatian’s first shot on target but Sportiello confidently grabbed the headed effort.
The two Viola players connected yet again to grab Fiorentina’s third an final goal in the final minutes. Kalinic directed the ball in behind Atalanta’s defence for Verdu to volley home his first goal with Fiorentina and extinguish the match.
The fifth consecutive league victory for Paolo Sousa’s side sees the team remain at the summit of the Serie A standings with 18 points as they enter the international break. A second loss of the season for Edy Reja sees the Nerazzurri fall to 10th place.
