Fiorentina defeated Cagliari 4-0 at the Stadio Sant’ Elia on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
Matias Fernandez opened the scoring with a free kick in the 16th minute and then doubled his tally with a well struck shot in the 55th minute. Fiorentina then further extended their lead after goals from Mario Gomez and Juan Cuadrado to leave Sardinia with a convincing victory.
It began as a very open game with both sides prioritising attack over defence, although Fiorentina were the team who had the most clear cut goalscoring chances.
This was proven after only three minutes when Cuadrado did well down the left hand side and won a free kick after being tripped by Luca Rossettini.
Matias Fernandez fizzed in the resulting free kick although Alessio Cragno was there with an athletic save to tip it round his right hand side post.
The Viola again came extremely close to breaking the deadlock in the 15th minute after a Marcos Alonso glancing header was intercepted well by an opposition player.
Almost instantly after this chance, Fiorentina did take the lead in the 16th minute after another menacing Fernandez direct free kick managed to find its way past the goal keeper without anyone getting a touch on the ball.
The Rossoblu reacted well to conceding the first goal and began to see a lot more of the ball. This possession came to fruition when a good chance fell for Albin Ekdal in the penalty area in the 25th minute, however he somehow managed to miss the target.
Cagliari managed to continue this sustained pressure and after a patient build up, the ball fell nicely for Andrea Cossu who hit the ball on the half volley, however it didn’t really trouble the Fiorentina goalkeeper.
The Isolani had two golden opportunities to equalise at the beginning of the second half with both chances falling to Diego Farias. His first shot was saved well by Neto, however a minute later he had the goal at his mercy however Stefan Savic did wonderfully well to prevent the ball from entering the Fiorentina net.
Cagliari were then made to pay for missing these two chances when David Pizarro laid the ball off to Fernandez who doubled his tally with a low hard drive into the left hand corner from just outside the penalty area.
German striker Mario Gomez then put the Viola 3-0 up in the 69th minute with a well taken finish. Fiorentina took advantage of Cagliari’s extremely high defensive line with Joaquin playing the ball to Gomez who was allowed to run through on goal and put an end to his goalscoring drought.
Cagliari were again made to pay for their defensive frailties when Borja Valero found Cuadrado running free on the left hand side [who may of been narrowly offside] who finished well past the helpless Cragno.
Alberto Aquilani nearly made an instant impression on the game after his second half introduction when he volleyed the ball into the left hand corner however it was correctly ruled offside.
Cagliari came close to a consolation goal in injury time however Samuele Longo’s shot hit the post, ultimately leaving Cagliari with a 4-0 home defeat.
