Fiorentina eased to a 4-1 win against ten man Cesena at Stadio Dino Manuzzi in Serie A on Sunday evening.
Fiorentina struck within minutes both sides of the interval with goals from Borja Valero and Stefan Savic before he scored a comical own-goal to reduce arrears. Massimo Volta saw red for the hosts and the Viola took advantage almost immediately with Gonzalo Rodriguez heading home a third before Mounir El Hamdaoui scored a late tap in to complete affairs.
The hosts, under the guidance of new head coach Domenico di Carlo, began the game brightly playing with a high-tempo and seemed keen to impress the new coach.
Nicola Leali had to be at his best to parry Mario Gomez’s close range header and fortunately for the keeper, Gonzalo Rodriguez could only find the side netting on the rebound.
The game soon settled into the more expected pattern where Fiorentina dominated possession, however they found their options limited in the final third and were forced into long efforts with Alberto Aquilani guilty of firing high and wide on multiple occasions.
Cesena were second best but they still had their own chances, however Antonio Mazzotta and Constantin Nica were both guilty of wasting their best situations.
Fiorentina’s control of the game would bear fruit just moments before the break as Marcos Alonso’s corner wasn’t dealt with and the ball fell to Valero, who after taking a touch, fired a low effort through a crowd of players leaving Leali unsighted and unable to prevent the visitors taking the lead.
After the break, the advantage was doubled almost instantly as Savic rose highest to head home a Matias Fernandez free kick. Suddenly the Cesena defence looked hapless and panic ensued with seemingly every ball played into the Cesena penalty area.
Just as Fiorentina were looking comfortable, Neto inexplicably, and comically, misjudged a harmless header back from Savic, subsequently allowing it to bobble past him and he was unable to prevent the ball from crossing the line.
The own-goal gave the hosts a fresh impetus and a somewhat undeserved foothold in the game with the players looking far more energetic with a vociferous crowd behind them, but their optimism would not last long.
With fifteen minutes to play Cesena were reduced to ten men as Volta rightly received a second booking for a heavy tackle on Alonso and they would pay the price just two minutes later as Fiorentina added a third goal.
The goal came from another set piece with Rodriguez heading home David Pizarro’s cross after the hosts failed to close down a short corner to seal the points for Vincenzo Montella’s side.
To make matters worse for the hosts, El Hamdaoui was able to tap in a fourth with the last kick of the game as Leali could only parry Fernandez’s effort right into the Moroccan’s path.
Cesena remain second from bottom in the table and are without a win in 14 Serie A games while the Viola secured their third successive away win and find themselves in seventh place.
