Vitoria Guimaraes-Fiorentina 1-1, report cards and scoreboard: the Viola only need a draw for direct access to the round of 16

Mission accomplished for the Fiorentinabut the road that led to direct qualification for the Conference League round of 16 proved to be more uphill than expected. The Gigliati hoped to be able to live an evening without worries and perhaps to grab that second place in the standings, on the pitch Vitoria instead a draw arrived at the last minute when the risk of defeat seemed to be more than real.

A match, the one played in Guimaraes, which saw the Viola perform at lower levels than those they have become accustomed to over the course of the season. The Viola also started quite well, but as the minutes passed they left the initiative to an opponent who gave the impression of putting more desire and malice into it.

Fiorentina is lost between the inability to attack in attack and incredible errors of measurement and in the 33rd minute it is precisely an incorrect exit that proves fatal: Comuzzo makes a mistake in the setup phase favoring the start of the Lusitanians with Kaio Cesar who, having flown down the right, puts a ball into the area which Gustavo Silva pounces on to make it 1-0.

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Palladino’s men not only fail to react, but suffer terribly from Vitoria’s pressing and on at least a couple of other occasions, before the end of the first half, they risk capitulating again.

In the second half the tactical plan did not change, but Fiorentina, with the entry of Kean onto the pitch in place of an evanescent Gudmundsson, managed at least to raise their center of gravity. It is still Vitoria who plays the game, but first Kean himself and then Beltran create what could be the conditions for a draw.

The Gigliati have the merit of trying until the end and in the 87th minute it was Mandragora who took advantage of a less than perfect clearance from Varela and scored the goal which made it 1-1 and third place in the standings.