It was another interesting round of fixtures in the domestic Serie A calendar this weekend, but Fiorentina’s victory over Hellas Verona has been one of the games that has stood out from Sunday’s scheduled matches.
Whilst it was not a typical humdinger, or a classic by any stretch of the imagination, the result was key for fans of La viola as it brought them level with Napoli on points, who had occupied fourth place in the table.
Given the remaining fixtures on the day, naturally Fiorentina remained tied on points, but with Bologna’s victory over AS Roma, they eventually jumped into fourth place, with Napoli in fifth, followed by the side from Florence (or Firenze if you prefer).
Head coach Vincenzo Italiano was honest enough in his post game press conference with the media to admit that his side probably did not actually deserve victory given the performance and the balance of play, but in taking a 1-0 win it was a ‘spectacular’ result for the Tuscans when it came to the look of the top flight table in his mind.
The visitors did actually miss a penalty in the very early stages of the game, and they had a plethora of chances themselves before the hosts eventually took the lead through Lucas Beltran, but his second Serie A goal was the telling moment of the match – even if it did come incredibly late in the game. Despite largely being outplayed, particularly given their respective chances on the day, Fiorentina took a significant three points as they pushed up the table, but their gaffer could not have been more pleased with their efforts as he knew they had to dig deep.
“We struggled in the first half, as our goalkeeper had both negatives with the penalty incident and positives with decisive saves. We played differently in the second half and scored despite not deserving it much. It had happened to us that we did not score in some games when we deserved it. Today, the opposite thing happened. The guys were a bit tired today, but the victory was great and so it’s our position in the table.”
Their gaffer went on to effectively lavish praise on the efforts of Verona in the game, praising the technical ability of their strikers and particularly praising the ‘tricky’ test the team poses to oppositions, and he acknowledged he had to tweak his own game plan to adapt to their set up as the 90 minutes ticked by, specifically at the half time break.
On to the next one.
