Fiorentina 0-1 Lazio: Magical Cana goal sinks wasteful Viola

Date: 2nd March 2014 at 10:48pm
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Lazio overcame a wasteful Fiorentina side to claim a 1-0 victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday evening in Serie A.

It was Lorik Cana who bagged the eventual match winner in somewhat spectacular fashion, as his overhead kick from close range was enough to earn his side all three points as La Viola wasted every chance they managed to carve out.

The visitors looked keen to take advantage of the absence of the home supporters for the first ten minutes as they attacked from the very beginning. This attacking play paid off as they broke the deadlock with just five minutes gone. A corner swung in by Antonio Candreva was headed up into the air only to find Cana beneath it as it came down, and his rather spectacular overhead kick beat Neto in the Viola goal.

Fiorentina looked to respond immediately as they went down the other end and Massimo Ambrosini went to ground appealing for a penalty. The Italian, however, found himself in the referee’s book for simulation.

As the fans began to filter into the stadium after ten minutes it was noticeable in both the volume of noise and the slight rise in the home side’s performance.

Things went very quiet on the field, if not in the stands after around 15 minutes and it began to become apparent that Fiorentina had a few notable absentees – the most notable of these was midfield general Borja Valero.

La Viola’s best chance came just after the half hour mark, but even that was nothing to really write about, as Matías Fernández headed way over the bar from 12 yards.

The hosts were evidently beginning to stand up and cause Lazio a few problems. Another header, this time it was Gonzalo Rodríguez who rose above the rest, but it was the same result for Fiorentina as his header was off target, though a lot closer this time.

As half-time approached it was the visitors who created the last chance of the half. It was a chance out of nowhere and perhaps should have seen them double their lead. Abdoulay Konko’s effort crashed off Neto’s crossbar after the Fiorentina ‘keeper appeared to get the slightest of touches onto the Frenchman’s effort, turning it up onto the woodwork.

Before this chance it was the hosts who were contributing every attack to the game, with the Biancocelesti looking happy to sit back and attempt to counter attack.

The first chance of the second half fell to Lazio, Candreva broke down the right and his low ball across the edge of the box found half-time substitute Ogenyi Onazi free, 20-yards from goal, but he scuffed his first-time effort and it trickled wide.

Fiorentina’s first attempt of the half cam shortly after. A quick break from Juan Cuadrado was so rapid that only Alessandro Matri was in the box, but the Colombian instead opted to pull the ball back for Joaquín, whose shot was fired well above Federico Marchetti’s goal.

Vincenzo Montella introduced Mario Gomez and Anderson to the game just before the hour mark in an attempt to claw his team back to level terms with Lazio.

The home side had been wasteful with their efforts all game, and next up it was Matri’s turn to miss the target for La Viola. Some good play in the Lazio box by Nenad Tomovic resulted in a back-heel which found Matri unmarked, but the on-loan Milan man’s shot was always rising and never looked like threatening the goal.

Fiorentina began to really pile on the pressure in the dying moments of the game but for the most part failed to really carve open a stubborn Lazio defence.

As the clock neared the 90 minute mark Fiorentina became more and more desperate. Gomez went to ground under a challenge from Cana but the referee was uninterested and gestured to the German telling him to get back to his feet.

Follow Conor Clancy on Twitter: @concalcio 

 

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