STADIO ARTEMIO FRANCHI (Florence) – Gaetano Castrovilli’s late winner was enough to earn Fiorentina a deserved 1-0 victory over Torino in the curtain-raising fixture of the 2020/21 Serie A season on Saturday.
La Viola struggled to get past Toro goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu and had a goal disallowed, but they eventually made the breakthrough when the midfielder tapped in the first goal of the new campaign with 12 minutes remaining.
Fiorentina striker Christian Kouame headed wide from six yards before Torino’s Alex Berenguer had a volley beaten away by Bartlomiej Dragowski, but Sirigu was to thank for keeping the scores level at the break.
The Italy international parried a Kouame header off the line in the dying minutes of the first half, before denying the Ivorian again in stoppage time with a superb one-handed stop on his close-range header.
Cristiano Biraghi thought he’d broken the deadlock when he drilled a finish under Sirigu from a tight angle early in the second half, but the celebrations were abruptly cut short as the linesman had raised his flag for offside.
The hosts dominated the second half and eventually found a way through the Toro defence on the 78th minute, when Federico Chiesa burst down the right and fired a low cross to the back post for Castrovilli to tap in.
Sirigu performed further heroics in the final minute of regulation time, getting a strong hand to a dangerous low shot from substitute Patrick Cutrone.
Toro captain Andrea Belotti thought he’d pinched a dramatic late draw in injury time with an acrobatic volleyed finish, but the Azzurri striker was offside.
