Fiorentina cruised to a comfortable 4-1 victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday lunchtime thanks to a brace from Luca Toni and goals from Alberto Aquilani and David Pizarro.
Fiorentina needed a win to keep pace with Lazio in fourth place ahead of the first Tuscan derby of the season. For Siena, avoiding defeat would take them off the bottom of Serie A.
Fiorentina began the match with intent and Alberto Aquilani fizzed a shot from 25 yards over the crossbar in the opening minutes.
Just moments later Siena goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo was called into action for the first time. A Fiorentina corner was headed to edge of the penalty area and Argentine defender Facundo Roncaglia hit a low drive which was well saved.
After ten minutes Siena almost scored a break away goal against the run of play. Another Viola corner was cleared and Portuguese defender Luis Neto threaded an excellent pass down field for Emanuele Calaio to chase down. Luckily for Vincenzo Montella’s side his goalkeeper Neto was quick to react and clear the ball.
After quarter of an hour Fiorentina made their pressure tell. Club captain Manual Pasqual did well to work space on the left and his deep cross was perfect for Toni who headed in from six yards.
Two minutes later and Fiorentina were cruising. Pasqual again surged down the left to cross for Toni who was pulled down by Felipe. The Brazilian was fortunate to only receive a yellow card. Pizarro stepped up to convert from the penalty spot to make it 2-0, his effort just squirming under Pegolo’s dispairing dive.
The game’s furious pace settled down and evened out a little as a contest and after half an hour Siena were almost back in the game. A right wing cross was powerfully headed at goal by Calaio but his effort was well saved by Brazilian stopper Neto.
Fiorentina were content to sit back but weren’t tested again until the 42nd minute when Francesco Bolzoni’s speculative volley was easily saved again by Neto.
In the final minute of the half Fiorentina stepped up a gear once more and killed the game off. Another left wing cross was headed to the far post and Romulo hooked the ball back across for Aquilani, who headed a queue of three Viola players who could have put the ball in the net, to make it 3-0 with Serse Cosmi’s defence nowhere to be seen.
Cosmi made two changes at the break but the second half began in the same fashion as the first with Montella’s men dominating possession.
With Fiorentina cruising their concentration levels dropped and Siena almost got back into the game. A corner from Matteo Rubin was met by a left footed volley from Calaio but his effort just went wide from around the penalty spot.
Stevan Jovetic’s return to action from injury lasted an hour and he was replaced by Mounir El Hamdaoui. The Morrocan striker’s first contribution was to shoot way over the cross bar from the edge of the area.
After 70 minutes Siena were offered a life line as Fiorentina fell asleep at the back. They cleared a freekick up field and Alessandro Rosina picked out the unmarked substitute Reginaldo who blasted the ball into the top corner from the edge of the area to make it 3-1.
In the 79th minute Fiorentina finally woke from their second-half slumber and after good inter-play between Borja Valero and Aquilani the Spaniard crossed for Toni to head a fourth goal from close range.
Calaio hit the side-netting for with a fierce volley with five minutes remaining and with two minutes of normal time left Siena were reduced to ten men. Massimo Paci received his second booking after a tug on El Hamdaoui in the box. Aquilani was given the opportunity to bag himself a brace but hit the resulting penalty high and wide.
That would mark the last action of the game. The comfortable 4-1 victory for Montella’s side means they keep the pressure on Lazio and Napoli for the third Champions League spot.
