Category Archives: ACF Fiorentina

Five things you need to know about Cagliari v Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina

With Fiorentina set to travel to Cagliari for the lunchtime kick-off this Sunday, we’ve trawled the archives to find these five key things you need to know ahead of the game at the Sardegna Arena.

1.    The first Cagliari v Fiorentina match in Serie A took place on 11 April 1965 in Week 28 of the 1964/65 season, ending in a 1-1 draw with Alberto Orlando – the striker born in Rome no 27 September 1938 – getting the goal for the Viola. It was Orlando’s only season at the club, but he netted 17 goals in 32 appearances to clinch the Serie A top scorer gong alongside Inter’s Sandro Mazzola.

2.    Fiorentina have faced Cagliari 40 times in Sardinia (38 times in Serie A, one in Serie B and one in the Coppa Italia). As things stand, the record reads 18 Cagliari wins, 15 draws and seven Fiorentina wins, with Cagliari scoring 50 goals to Fiorentina’s 35 along the way. The trip to Cagliari is always a difficult away match, and indeed the Viola once went a whopping 41 years without winning in Sardinia: from the 1-0 win secured thanks to a goal from Paolino Nuti on 19 September 1965 to the 2-0 victory on 20 December 2006, when Luca Toni bagged a brace. Between those two matches, Fiorentina lost 13 times and drew on 12 occasions at Cagliari.
3.    Cagliari and Fiorentina each won one of the last two Italian championships of the 1960s. The Viola won the Scudetto in 1969, while Cagliari clinched the title in 1970. The two teams were very evenly matched back then, with both meetings between the two sides in Cagliari in the 1968/69 and 1969/70 seasons finishing in draws: a 1-1 draw on 13 October 1968 with goals from Mario Maraschi and Luigi Riva and a 0-0 stalemate on 8 February 1970. Both games took place at the old Stadio Amsicora, which has replaced by the Stadio Sant’Elia in the 1970/71 season.
4.    It might be one of the most painful episodes in Fiorentina history, but we can’t overlook the Cagliari v Fiorentina match of 16 May 1982. The two sides came into the match with completely different aims: Fiorentina were fighting for Scudetto glory, while Cagliari were playing for the point they needed to avoid relegation. At the same time, another crunch game was being played at Catanzaro, who were hosting Juventus – the team level with Fiorentina at the top of the table. Both games were goalless until the closing stages, when a Liam Brady scored what proved to be the winner for Juventus from the penalty spot. Meanwhile, back in Cagliari, Fiorentina had a Francesco Graziano goal chalked off in controversial circumstances. The final whistle confirmed it: Juventus were champions on 46 points, with Fiorentina having to settle for second on 45. It would have been a long ferry ride home for the Viola.
5.    The most recent Cagliari v Fiorentina fixture took place on 15 March 2019 and ended in a 2-1 win for the Sardinians, with Federico Chiesa’s 88th-minute goal not enough to salvage a point after earlier strikes from Joao Pedro and Luca Ceppitelli. The game was part of the 14-match winless run endured by the Viola at the back end of last season: the unhappy streak began with the 3-3 home draw against Inter on 24 February to the 0-0 draw with Genoa, again at the Franchi, on 26 May. The result was enough to finally secure Fiorentina’s place in Serie A on the last day of the season.

Published: Thu, 07 Nov 2019 10:18:00 +0100

Source: Fiorentina Official website en.violachannel.tv

Montella hails Fiorentina reaction in Parma draw

ACF Fiorentina

Vincenzo Montella was full of praise for his Fiorentina side after they shook off a lacklustre opening period to fight back for a point in the 1-1 draw with Parma in Florence on Sunday evening.
Montella admitted that his players were off the pace in the first half, which ended with Fiorentina trailing 1-0 after Gervinho’s 39th-minute strike.

“I didn’t like the performance in the first half,” said Montella after the game. “We lacked the impetus and intensity you need to play in a game like this. I don’t know why that was – there could be many reasons. We’ve played a lot of games and had five or six players under the age of 23, so perhaps some of them felt the pressure and felt they had to win because thankfully that’s the atmosphere we’ve been able to create. It could be a bit of everything.”

Yet the Viola coach was pleased with the reaction from his team after the break as they levelled the scores through Gaetano Castrovilli on 66 minutes.
“The team responded well in the second half so that showed that the lads have maturity and quality,” he said. “Sometimes you’re not able to turn that kind of game around against an experienced team like Atalanta, but we did that – we got more tempo into our play, made more movement without the ball, attacked the goal more and played with a bit more courage. I’m pleased with that. We had a lot of the ball and had 19 shots, so we need to be a bit more accurate to go to the next level.”

Montella sent two young strikers on in the second half – Pedro and Dusan Vlahovic – as the Viola went looking for all three points, but called for patience as the youngsters adapt to first-team action.

“Pedro’s fitness is improving and he’s settling in,” he said. “We’re not in a rush with him. He’s our player and he needs to adapt to the football here. I was hoping he could get a goal tonight, even though he only had five minutes – same with Vlahovic. We need to be patient before we judge him because he’s definitely got a lot more to come.”
A win would have moved Fiorentina level on points with Napoli, but Montella was quick to dispel any sense of disappointment around the game.
“We have an identity, we have a bond, we have enthusiasm – that’s what sport is about,” he said. “I’m enjoying it and I hope that everyone else is too. We’re building something big, in my opinion. We’re all doing a good job. The fans were cheering us on right until the end tonight and we need to keep that going. It’s good when a team fights, with six young players on the pitch, against a really experienced team like Parma. It’s not easy so let’s give the lads time – let’s allow them to make mistakes.”

Published: Sun, 03 Nov 2019 21:57:00 +0100

Source: Fiorentina Official website en.violachannel.tv

Club statement: Bagno a Ripoli

ACF Fiorentina

The acquisition of the site that will become the new Fiorentina training ground in the Municipality of Bagno a Ripoli was completed on Wednesday.

After acquiring the remaining part of the site – which the club had already optioned – from Società Veronica on Wednesday, Fiorentina is now in possession of all the land it requires to build the new training ground over the next two years. At 25 hectares (62 acres) in size, the training ground will be the biggest in Italy.

Work to secure and clean up the site has already begun, while the process of clearing the site of any remaining people has been successfully completed with the help of the authorities and Società Veronica.

“After only four months, we are starting to lay the foundations of our new home,” said Rocco Commisso, before setting off for Fiorentina’s match away at Sassuolo on Wednesday night. “It will be a beautiful site that will fit in seamlessly with the wonderful area of Bagno a Ripoli, respecting the environment and the natural surroundings. I want to thank the Mayor of Bagno a Ripoli Francesco Casini for his hard work, and the architect Marco Casamonti, from Archea e Associati, for his invaluable, ongoing assistance.

Published: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 13:32:00 +0100

Source: Fiorentina Official website en.violachannel.tv

Five things you need to know about Sassuolo v Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina

Fiorentina travel to Mapei Stadium to take on Sassuolo in Week 10 of Serie A on Wednesday night – and we’ve put together these five key stats on the game to get you in the mood.
1)    Sassuolo v Fiorentina is one of the “newest” match-ups in Serie A. The two teams only faced off for the first time in the top tier of Italian football on 22 December 2013, with Fiorentina running out 1-0 winners away from home thanks to a Giuseppe Rossi goal (with his right foot!) eight minutes from time. The win took Fiorentina – coached by Vincenzo Montella during his first spell at the club – onto 33 points in fourth place, just three points from Napoli in third and five from inter in second. The Viola finished that season in fourth position to qualify for the Europa League.
2)    Fiorentina have the better of the record between the two sides in Emilia-Romagna. From seven meetings (six in Serie A, one in Serie C2), Fiorentina have got three wins, three draws and just one defeat. The Viola have scored 11 goals and conceded eight away at Sassuolo. The top scorer in the fixture is Khouma Babacar, who scored a brace for Fiorentina on 14 February 2015 and also scored for Sassuolo against the Viola in the last meeting of the two sides on 9 December, a 3-3 draw.
3)    The only meeting of Sassuolo and Fiorentina outside of Serie A took place in Serie C2 on Sunday 22 December 2002. The match was 1-0 by “Florentia Viola”, which was the name under which the team played in the 2002/03 season. The winning goal was scored by Christian Riganò, his 14th of the season, to give Alberto Cavasin’s Viola side their fourth straight win and help them draw level with Rimini on 32 points at the top of the table.
4)    Fiorentina’s 3-1 win over Sassuolo on 14 February 2015 was notable because it coincided with Mohamed Salah’s first start for the club – and the Egyptian’s first goal. Salah had made his debut for the club a week earlier when he came on for Joaquin in the 65th minute of the 3-2 home win over Atalanta. At Sassuolo, he slotted home a precise effort with his left foot on the half-hour mark to temporarily send Fiorentina into fourth place behind Napoli, Roma and Juventus. The Viola again qualified for the Europa League at the end of the season.

5)    The last Sassuolo v Fiorentina match took place on 9 December and ended in a raucous 3-3 draw, with the Viola fighting back from 3-1 down to salvage a point after the game had been goalless at half time. Alfred Duncan gave Sassuolo the lead on 62 minutes, before Babacar made it 2-0 five minutes later. Giovanni Simeone pulled one back for the Viola on 70 minutes, only for Stefano Sensi to find the net with ten minutes remaining to leave Fiorentina trailing by two. But goals from Marco Benassi on 89 minutes and Kevin Mirallas in the sixth minute of stoppage time ensured the spoils were shared in a 3-3 draw.
 

Published: Tue, 29 Oct 2019 15:18:00 +0100

Source: Fiorentina Official website en.violachannel.tv

Montella expecting tough test at Sassuolo

ACF Fiorentina

Vincenzo Montella called for Fiorentina to ensure they are fully focused on Wednesday’s trip to Sassuolo as he appeared at a pre-match press conference to preview the Week 10 clash on Tuesday.

“We need to look ahead and not behind,” said Montella. “We have a tough game against a side that is proving itself to be more pragmatic than last season. They have some players in attack that are as good as most in the league: [Domenico] Berardi, [Gregoire] Defrel, [Francesco] Caputo, [Filip] Djuricic and [Jeremie] Boga. They have some very good players in midfield too in [Pedro] Obiang and [Alfred] Duncan. [Manuel] Locatelli is a very good young player in my eyes too. We need to put everything else to one side and show the mental strength to get back to the form we were showing before.”

Montella was pressed on whether or not he will rotate his team at Mapei Stadium, with Federico Chiesa put to the Viola boss as one player he might rest.
“Chiesa was tired but I think he’s one of the top players in terms of fitness,” he said. “He is able to play three games in a week because he recovers quickly. When you play twice or three times a week, it’s a whole different sport. I’ll probably make a few changes in midfield, but I won’t say anything more than that.”
Montella went on to discuss his other options in attack, with Franck Ribery suspended after his red card after the final whistle against Lazio.
“[Dusan] Vlahovic is certainly in better shape than Pedro, but he is a young lad and still needs to work on his game management,” said Montella. “[Kevin-Prince] Boateng gives us more certainties in terms of participation and his reading of the game.”
The Fiorentina coach also addressed the situation with Ribery, who took to social media to apologise following his actions during the Lazio game.
“I’ve had a very good relationship with Franck from day one and indeed before he arrived,” said Montella. “We cleared things up yesterday, I explained my reasons and he acknowledged that he crossed a line. It happens. He’s come to Fiorentina to test himself – he could have gone to Asia where he had much more lucrative offers, because he’s still a top player in his head. He chose to come to a competitive league, to Fiorentina, because he believes he’s still a top player. We’re benefitting from that but I have to make objective decisions during a game and that includes managing a top player of 36 years of age who never holds anything back.”

Published: Tue, 29 Oct 2019 14:59:00 +0100

Source: Fiorentina Official website en.violachannel.tv