Pre-match
Marco Baroni didn’t make many changes after the Europa League win against Real Sociedad. Raffaele Palladino engaged in a bit of skulduggery, though, claiming that it’d be a 4-3-2-1 and instead fielding a 4-4-2 with Lucas Beltrán and Michael Folorunsho as the wide midfielders. The big news, though, was a start for Marin Pongračić, who returned to the pitch for the first time since late November.
First half
Fiorentina came out energetically, pressing effectively, winning 50/50s, and generally looking frisky. It took just 10 minutes for them to score: Rolando Mandragora (!) pressed high and won the ball. Albert Guðmundsson drove forward and slipped in Robin Gosens, who fired in a cross that Lazio only half cleared. Yacine Adli timed his run perfectly to meet the loose ball and placed his volley perfectly through traffic and into the back of the net for his 3rd of the year. Glorious.
Just a few minutes later, the visitors doubled the lead. It was another quick break, this time down the other wing. Folorunsho held up a long ball and flicked it through for Dodô, who jetted past Luca Pellegrini and slipped in a perfect cross to Beltrán, who’d found space at the back post with nobody marking him. El Vikingo duly headed home to double the lead, but Moise Kean deserves an assist too for dragging 3 defenders with him to the front post and leaving Beltrán a whole ass boulevard to enjoy.
Fiorentina sat deep afterwards, looking to soak up pressure and hit on the break. There were some mistakes at the back, with Dodô and Beltrán the guiltiest parties, but the Viola looked like hanging on pretty well. Indeed, they nearly added another as Guðmundsson acrobatically volleyed Kean’s knockdown off the upright. When the half ended it, it felt like we’d watched an entirely different team than the pathetic Fiorentina of the past few weeks. It was nice.
Second half
Lazio came out with a bit more intensity, as expected, and pinned Fiorentina back without creating all that many chances; the Viola defense was physical and disciplined and the hosts started to look more frustrated than threatening, although the specter of a Viola mistake loomed large after Pongračić tried to dribble out of trouble in his own box.
Instead, referee Antonio Rapuano turned the spotlight on himself, booking Yacine Adli for taking too long to sub off and then giving him a second after he kicked a ball into the stands. It got awfully ill-tempered after that with Pongračić and Castellanos at the center of several incidents. In the meantime, Gosens managed a fantastic clearance off the line after David de Gea was impeded on a high ball and the Viola kept hanging on, hanging on, and hanging on until Adam Marušić managed to head one in during stoppage time after Lazio looped a series of crosses in.
-That set up a crazy finish, but nobody could’ve predicted how crazy. Rapuano made it all about him, sending off both managers in separate incidents as the game descended into a brawl in the Fiorentina box. In the end, Pedro crushed a volley off the same upright that had denied Guðmundsson in the first half and that was it.
Full time
Goals: Adli 11 ‘(ass. Gosens), beltrán 17’ (Ass. Dodô); Marušić 90 ‘+2 (ASS. HYSAJ)
Cards: Adli 63 ’63, Paladin 64′ 90 ‘+5, Dodo 70’, Mandragora 71 ‘, Palladino; Baroni 88 ’90’+2, Pedro 90 ‘
Stats
What’s next
This win keeps Fiorentina in 6th place, 1 point behind Juventus and 3 behind Lazio in 4th with a game in hand (albeit against Inter Milan). More importantly, this win breaks a streak of 7 straight without a victory (6 of those were losses). It’s a little embarrassing that we had to wait until this late in the month for the first 3 points of 2025, but better late than never, I suppose.
That sets up a home meeting with a Genoa that’s started to regain some equilibrium after sacking Alberto Gilardino. That one’s going to be fascinating. It’ll also be deadline day so expect some extra mayhem, but we’ll also get to see if Palladino goes with a 3-at-the-back system as he did later on in this one. Maybe the plan is to use Riccardo Sottil as the backup wingback, as he did late on here. Whatever the plan, though, the mister will have to execute it without Adli and Mandragora, who’ll be suspended.
