Fiorentina host Cagliari on Sunday afternoon as the Viola continue their fight for next season’s European qualification.
Vincenzo Montella’s side are just one point behind fifth place Sampdoria whom travel to Napoli for the final Serie A game of the weekend. The two clubs are fighting it out for the final Europa League spot as the season nears its finish.
In the last six meetings between Fiorentina and Cagliari, neither team could get the upper-hand. The clubs have split wins (two each), draws (two each) and losses (two each). Fiorentina have outscored the Sardinians ten to five in that time, which included putting four goals past the second to bottom club earlier this season.
Fiorentina must contest Thursday night’s Europa League fixture against Dynamo Kiev first, but ahead of both fixtures, the Viola are already contending with a few injuries.
Last weekend’s defeat to Hellas Verona not only hurt their European aspirations, but striker Khouma Babacar was injured and will miss the remainder of the season with a ‘grade two lesion of the right MCL’. Babacar has seven goals in 20 games for the Viola. While Babacar is out for the remainder of the season, on loan striker Alberto Gilardino’s injury will be assessed later this week.
With three losses in their last six, Fiorentina are finding wins difficult to come by as the club fight on two fronts. Recently knocked out of the Coppa Italia by Juventus, Montella’s men are currently 16th in the Serie A form table, which fortunately for them, is still better than Cagliari. The Rossoblu are rock bottom in Serie A’s form table and haven’t won since the end of January, going eleven games winless.
Due to their constant struggles, Cagliari have seen their third coaching change of the season as Zdenek Zeman, reappointed coach on March 9th, resigned this week. Gianluca Festa now takes the reigns of a team that have seen their world tuned upside down on the pitch this season.
Cagliari will have two players missing through suspension on Sunday in Luca Rossettini and Samuele Longo. However, unlike Fiorentina, Cagliari will have no injuries to worry about. Though striker Marco Sau has been hurt for much of the season, the team expect him to be ready to play on Sunday.
Can Festa provide Cagliari a fighting chance of survival at the end of the season? He’ll need a miracle and a top class performance from his side.
Form Guide: Fiorentina (L-W-D-W-L-L), Cagliari (L-D-L-L-L-L)
Expected Starting XIs
Fiorentina: Neto, Richards, Rodriguez, Basanta, Pasqual, Aquilani, Valero, Diamanti, Ilicic, Gilardino
Cagliari: Brkic, Balzano, Diakite, Ceppitelli, Avelar, Dessena, Crisetig, Ekdal, Farias, M’Poku, Sau
