1.    Lazio and Fiorentina have faced off in Rome on 78 occasions, with the Viola winning 15, drawing 22 and losing 41 of these meetings. Lazio have the better of the record in terms of goals scored, with 132 against Fiorentina’s 70. Of the 78 previous meetings of the two sides in Rome, 70 have been Serie A matches (14 wins, 22 draws and 34 defeats for Fiorentina), one was a Divisione Nazionale game (a 5-1 defeat for the Viola on 17 March 1929), one took place as part of the Girone Misto format (a 1-0 loss on 17 February 1946) and six have been Coppa Italia matches (one win, five defeats for Fiorentina).
2.    The first Lazio v Fiorentina match in Serie A history took place on 27 March 1932, when Lazio ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a goal from Otavio Fantoni. Fiorentina’s first win at Lazio was a goal-filled 5-3 victory on 16 December 1934: Arrigo Morselli (brace), Carlos Gringa, Mario Pizziolo and Janos Nehadoma got the goals for the Viola. Fiorentina actually led Serie A for several weeks during that 1934/35 season, staying top until Week 21. However, an injury sustained by Morselli in the 5-3 win over Lazio proved fatal to the Viola’s title ambitions.
3.    Fiorentina’s biggest win at Lazio is their 5-0 victory on 13 December 1959, when Kurt Hamrin and Miguel both struck doubles. Lazio’s biggest win over Fiorentina at home is the 8-2 thrashing on 5 March 1995: Pierluigi Casiraghi scored four for the hosts, while Paolo Negro, Roberto Cravero (penalty), Alen Boksic and Marco Di Vaio also netted for Lazio. Rui Costa and Gabriel Omar Batistuta (penalty) got Fiorentina’s goals.
4.    On the subject of Batistuta, the legendary Argentine striker is Fiorentina’s leading goalscorer away at Lazio with four goals, ahead of Hamrin and Montuori on three each. Hamrin and Batistuta are also Fiorentina’s all-time leading scorers against Lazio home and away, both of ten goals.
5.    Milan Badelj is one player to have turned out for both Fiorentina and Lazio, having made 26 appearances and scored one goal during his 2018/19 campaign with the Biancocelesti. Badelj had joined Lazio after four seasons with Fiorentina (between 2014 and 2018), before returning to Florence for the 2019/20 season.
6.    Martin Caceres is another player to have played for both teams. Caceres joined Lazio in January 2019, before leaving in January 2020. Caceres made just 18 appearances for Lazio, scoring once – against Fiorentina. It came during Lazio’s 4-3 win over Fiorentina on 18 April 2018, part of Week 33 of Serie A 2018/19.
7.    It was another Uruguayan who starred in Fiorentina’s last away win over Lazio: Matias Vecino. The midfielder scored a brace in Fiorentina’s 4-2 defeat of the Biancocelesti on 15 May 2016, the last day of the 2015/16 season. Christian Tello and Federico Bernardeschi also scored for the Viola that day, while Lazio’s goals were scored by Senad Lulic and Miroslav Klose, who was making the final appearance of a legendary career.
8.    Moving away from league action, Lazio and Fiorentina have faced off twice in the final of the Coppa Italia. The first was back on 24 September 1958: the match took place at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and saw Lazio – coached by Fulvio Bernardini – secure a narrow 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Marilio Prini in the first half. Curiously, both Bernardini and Prini had been part of the Fiorentina group that won the Scudetto two years previously. The second final took place in Florence on 11 June 1961, with Fiorentina running out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Gianfranco Petris and Gigi Milan.
9.    One particularly memorable Lazio v Fiorentina clash was the one that took place on 22 May 2005. Thirty minutes into the game, with the scores level at 1-1 (Enzo Maresca for Fiorentina, Sebastiano Siviglia for Lazio), Martin Jorgensen pounced on a loose ball inside the box to volley towards goal with the Biancocelesti keeper stranded. Yet the ball never went in – it had been punched clear off the line by Lazio defender Luciano Zauri. And here’s the punchline: the referee never saw the infraction and simply awarded Fiorentina a corner. Thankfully, the mistake had no bearing on the Viola’s precarious league standing. Three years later, as fate would have it, Zauri was signed by Fiorentina – whose fans welcomed him with plenty of playful banners.
10.    The most recent Lazio v Fiorentina match-up, on 7 October 2018, ended in a 1-0 win for Lazio thanks to a Ciro Immobile goal on 37 minutes. Immobile is the current top scorer in Serie A with 27 goals scored, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo on 22. Immobile has won the top-scorer gong twice previously: in the 2013/14 season, when he scored 22 goals for Torino, and in the 2017/18 season, when he scored 29 for Lazio (Mauro Icardi also scored 29 for Inter).

Published: Fri, 26 Jun 2020 15:19:00 +0200

Source: Fiorentina Official website en.violachannel.tv