Fiorentina suffered their first Serie A home defeat in 19, throwing away the lead as Lorenzo Lucca and Florian Thauvin pounced on errors to give Udinese a shock victory.
The Viola saw their eight-game winning streak ended by a 1-0 defeat to Bologna, but on Thursday drew 1-1 away to Vitoria Guimaraes to qualify for the Conference League Round of 16. Dodo was suspended and Marin Pongracic injured, but it was an emotional occasion with Edoardo Bove’s return to the Stadio Franchi for the first time since his medical emergency on December 1, sitting on the bench. The Friulani absentee list kept growing with Jaka Bijol, Brenner, Keinan Davis, Maduka Okoye, Martin Payero, Lautaro Giannetti, Oier Zarraga and Gerard Deulofeu.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Riccardo Sottil, who shook off tonsillitis to start, was furious when booked after going down in the penalty area, but was vindicated by the VAR On-Field Review for Thomas Kristensen’s clumsy tackle, as Moise Kean converted from the spot.
Andrea Colpani and Sottil had efforts charged down or parried, while Lorenzo Lucca steered his header off target for Udinese.
Fiorentina gifted the equaliser at the dawn of the second half, as Luca Ranieri tried to avoid a corner by floating the ball over Florian Thauvin, but got it all wrong, hit him on the chest and the pull-back for Lorenzo Lucca to score undisturbed.
Incredibly, Udinese – who moved to three at the back for the second half – almost took the lead moments later, as a corner came to Lucca who flicked it up and hit the fantastic bicycle-kick, thumping the base of the near post.
Colpani took too long to get a Kean assist under control and saw the finish charged down by Ekkelenkamp, but Udinese did turn it around when Thauvin cut inside Robin Gosens on the right and curled a wonderful left-foot finish into the far bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Kean should’ve equalised when found by Colpani, but his right-foot finish only clipped the outside of the post from the edge of the box. Thauvin thought he’d scored another moments later, his acrobatic volley charged down from point-blank range by Ranieri.
Christian Kouame flicked a long Rolando Mandragora ball beyond Sava, but Kean sprinting to reach the tap-in nearly crashed into the woodwork instead.
Fiorentina did hit the frame of the goal when a Danilo Cataldi long-range effort took a double deflection before Sava flapped it into the upright. Sava did better when getting down to palm a Jonathan Ikone effort off the line and David De Gea took the sting out of a Sandi Lovric free kick.
Fiorentina 1-2 Udinese
Kean pen 8 (F), Lucca 49 (U), Thauvin 57 (U)
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