Hellas Verona at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday afternoon.
The tight encounter saw Mauro Zarate net late in the first half before Eros Pisano grabbed a last gasp equaliser to gift his side a much needed point.
Signs of a difficult afternoon for the Viola were evident from the get go, as defender Nenad Tomovic was forced to leave the pitch on a stretcher just two minutes into the match, after clashing his knee against on-loan Verona striker Ante Rebic.
With Khouma Babacar finding it hard to break down the visitor’s defence, constantly shrouded out whenever near the penalty area, Fiorentina opted to passing the ball around and keeping possession for the majority of the first half.
As they continued to struggle, Verona almost caught Fiorentina out in the 27th minute, after Davide Astori brought down Leandro Greco outside the area. The Gialloblu’s No 19 had the chance to curl his shot in from a dangerous position and give his side a shock lead, though he rather half-heartedly kicked the ball right into the path of goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu.
The newly returned Mauro Zarate finally broke the deadlock just five minutes from the end of the first half, much to the relief of the home crowd, as he connected well with a powerful Cristian Tello cross, driving the ball into the bottom corner with a slight deflection off Eros Pisano.
Babacar then wasted a well timed counter-attack in the second half as he chose to try and chip the keeper from a tight angle and ultimately threw away a golden chance to finish off the game.
Two controversial moments were waved aside by the referee as the match came to it’s close, as Pierluigi Gollini first handled what seemed to be a clear back-pass before Davide Astori escaped a second yellow and a penalty after catching Rebic in the face with the tip of his boot.
Babacar’s earlier miss eventually came back to haunt the Viola right before the final whistle. They looked set for the win, however, Pisano was on-hand to upset the result and head in unmarked from a last minute corner, tying the score up one a piece.
Substitute Nikola Kalinic’s half volley was denied fantastically in the last second by Gollini, and Fiorentina were forced to settle for a point, sending them up into fourth place on equal points with Inter, whilst Verona remain at the bottom of Serie A with 19 points.
