Empoli condemned their Tuscan rivals Fiorentina to a 2-0 defeat at the Stadio Carlo Castellani in their Sunday morning Serie A clash.
The Azzurri took the lead before half-time through Manuel Pucciarelli and Piotr Zielinski made certain of the victory with a late strike.
The first clear chance of the game came to Cristian Tello, who plucked the cross from Federico Bernardeschi out of the air, cut inside but sent his shot wide of the near post. Josip Ilicic then put the ball in the back of the net, but the Slovenian had taken the shot on from an offside position.
Both sides seemed evenly match going into half-time, but the home side managed to sneak a goal in before the whistle. Massimo Maccarone headed the ball down into the path of Manuel Pucciarelli, who cut inside Gonzalo Rodriguez and slotted past Ciprian Tatarusanu to bag his fifth of the season.
Fiorentina surged forward, Tello serving a great cross in for Nikola Kalinic but the Croatian could only head the ball to stand-in goalkeeper Alberto Pelagotti. Ilicic then had one final attempt before half time, but again Pelagotti stood his ground. In the second half Riccardo Saponara squandered a great chance to double the lead, bundling the cross from Mario Rui wide of the post.
Kalinic finally found the back of the net for the away side, but the offside flag went up on the far side. Marcos Alonso then tried his luck with an acrobatic scissor kick, but his luck was out and it went wide of the target. Borja Valero had one final attempt, but he sent it straight down to middle for Palagotti to gather.
Piotr Zielinski settled the nerves late on with a powerful effort into the bottom corner after Tatarusanu parried back into play.
The result leaves Fiorentina in fifth and seven points behind the Champions League places while Empoli go into 11th.
