Fiorentina 1-3 Lazio: Frantic finish gifts Aquile huge victory

Date: 9th January 2016 at 8:15pm
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Fiorentina 3-1 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Saturday evening in Serie A.

Avoidable errors and poor play were the bane of the Viola’s night, as their mistakes saw them fall to an early goal from Keita Balde Diao. A late dash from either side saw three goals in the final few minutes, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Felipe Anderson scoring either side of a Facundo Roncaglia goal.

The home side started well and came close to taking an early lead in just the second minute, after Matias Fernandez flashed a free kick inches wide of the post. Marcos Alonso and Matias Vecino were both up next to try their luck, though neither were able to direct their shots towards where they had hoped.

As play ticked on, Fiorentina grew visibly frustrated with their wayward shots and incoming fouls from the Lazio defence, which proved to be their downfall as their anger took the better of them, forcing them into poor mistakes.

Capitalising on the Viola’s sudden drop in tempo, Lazio began to drive forward and place pressure on Ciprian Tatarusanu’s goal.

Three golden chances to take the lead were squandered by the Aquile, as Keita Balde Diao found himself denied by the Romanian shot-stopper before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic passed up two clear opportunities on goal.

However, the visitors were not to be denied once more, as they eventually made good of their chances, pouncing on yet another Fiorentina mistake.

A weak pass from defender Roncaglia was intercepted by the ever-present Keita, who took the ball in his stride before confidently slotting in between the posts, right before the half-time whistle.

In an effort to shake up the scoreline, Fiorentina coach Paulo Sousa introduced Manuel Pasqual and Giuseppe Rossi during the second half, the later almost equalising with his first touch of the ball.

Lazio turned toward a more defensive system in the hopes of protecting their lead in the remaining 20 minutes and were saved when Alonso’s header was cleared off the line from a Pasqual corner.

Just when the game looked to be coming towards its end, six minutes of extra time were added, enough to provide a frenzied finish to the proceedings.

Milinkovic-Savic curled a shot past Tatarusanu to gift Lazio what seemed a comfortable lead, before Roncaglia fired in from well outside the box to halve the deficit, with Etrit Berisha caught asleep in-between the sticks.

Fiorentina pushed to grab yet another goal, though substitute Felipe Anderson made sure his side left Florence with all three points as he netted on the counterattack.

 

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