Fiorentina 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur: Salah the star as Viola progress

Date: 26th February 2015 at 9:05pm
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Fiorentina v Tottenham Europa LeagueFiorentina defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Thursday evening in the Europa League to progress 3-1 on aggregate.

Mario Gomez opened the scoring in the 54th minute on the break after some sloppy Spurs defending before Mohamed Salah got a second in similar fashion in the 71st minute.

Fiorentina arguably enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges but didn’t really look like scoring barring a few-half chances that didn’t seriously challenge Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal.

Nacer Chadli looked dangerous in the 16th minute after driving down the left-flank but his ball across goal was intercepted before it could reach Roberto Soldado, and the Viola hit straight back on the counterattack but Mario Gomez could only run the ball out of play for a goal kick.

The English side exerted some more pressure after the 20th minute but struggled to find a way through a crowded Fiorentina area after some dangerous corner kicks.

Spurs had an incredible chance to take the lead after 28 minute when Roberto Soldado and Chadli were through on goal but the Spanish striker’s pass to the Belgian was too weak and he gave Neto the chance to pounce on the ball and prevent a certain goal.

Fiorentina had a sight of goal in the 38th minute when Mario Gomez found space in the area after a quick throw-in but the German striker’s shot was blocked, he claimed by the hand of Federico Fazio but the Turkish referee disagreed.

The Viola had another chance in the 42nd minute when Salah was fed by a chipped through ball but the Egyptian was unable to hit the target from a narrow angle.

Fiorentina had a golden chance to take the lead in the 50th minute after Ben Davies played a clearance straight to the top of the Spurs area but Milan Badelj fired his shot straight at Lloris.

Gomez struck to give the Gigliati the lead in the 54th minute after a quick counterattack when Fazio lost the ball to Badelj, who sent the German clean through on goal and he made no mistake while one on one to slot the ball through the legs of Lloris.

Salah almsot doubled the Viola’s advantage in the 61st minute but Lloris was able to save the Egyptian’s strike with his feet after going down early.

Salah scored Fiorentina’s second in the 70th minute after Jan Vertonghen failed to clear the ball with his back to goal and that allowed the former Chelsea man to score from close range after exploiting the Belgian’s error.

Harry Kane put the ball in the net but his goal was correctly disallowed as Davies was in an offside position before he set up the striker.

Eriksen fired a shot from long range in the 85th minute but Neto was able turn it out for a corner.

Soldado almost got one back with time running out in the second half but his flicked header looped just over the bar and Tottenham didn’t look like mounting a comeback, allowing the Gigliati to see out the result and move on to the Round of 16.

 

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