Fiorentina 1-3 Como at the Franchi: Liberali, Nico Paz and Douvikas seal a Lariani coup
In Serie A round seven the Lariani won 3-1 in Florence on Sunday 18 October, ended a three-match winless run and moved up to 14 points. Pongracic had reopened the game before the break, but his second goal was ruled out by VAR. Translated from Italian.
Translated from the Italian original. Leggi in italiano
Como returned to winning ways with a 3-1 victory away to Fiorentina in Serie A round seven, played on Sunday 18 October at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, with Marco Di Bello as referee. Cesc Fabregas and his side built the win in the first half, with two goals in four minutes, and sealed it after the break through Anastasios Douvikas.
The Lariani arrived in Florence without the injured Moise Kean and Assane Diao, leaving Douvikas as the only available centre forward. Yan Couto also pulled out during the warm-up and was replaced in the line-up by Ivan Smolcic, while Mattia Liberali was handed his first start. The starting eleven, in a 4-2-3-1, was completed by Jean Butez in goal, Trevoh Chalobah and Marc-Oliver Kempf in central defence, Álex Valle at left back, Luis Milla and Lucas Da Cunha in midfield and a line of Liberali, Nico Paz and Maxence Caqueret behind Douvikas.
Two goals in four minutes
After an opening spell with chances at both ends and David De Gea making key saves from Douvikas and Nico Paz, Como took the lead in the 32nd minute: Liberali, set up by Caqueret, beat the Fiorentina goalkeeper with a left-footed finish inside the area for his first Serie A goal. The second followed in the 36th minute, a Valle cross and a winning header from Nico Paz. Fiorentina pulled one back in the 42nd minute through Marin Pongracic, who scored following a corner.
In first-half added time the match had its most debated episode. Pongracic found the net again, but the goal was ruled out after a long VAR review for offside, and the teams went in at 1-2. Como had already lost Chalobah in the opening minutes to a muscular problem, with Jacobo Ramón coming on in his place.
Douvikas seals it, Butez protects it
Early in the second half Alieu Njie went close to an equaliser for Fiorentina, then in the 56th minute Como restored the two-goal margin: Nico Paz played in Douvikas, whose finish beat De Gea for 3-1. The side coached by Paolo Vanoli pushed again late on: a header from Njie struck the post and Nicolò Fagioli tested Butez twice, without managing to reopen the match.
The match numbers tell of an open game: 53 per cent possession for Como, shots 19 to 16 for Fiorentina but efforts on target 8 to 7 for the Lariani, corners 10 to 5 for the Viola and no offsides given against Como compared with four for Fiorentina. The result ends a three-match winless run across league and cups, which began with the defeat at Frosinone and continued with the home draw against Roma and Wednesday's Champions League defeat away to Feyenoord.
In the table Como move up to 14 points and end Sunday in fifth place: at full-time at the Franchi the Lariani had briefly stood fourth, before Milan overtook them by beating Atalanta 3-2 in the afternoon match. Fiorentina stay on four points, second from bottom at the end of Sunday. For the Fabregas side, who arrived in Florence with a single point from their previous two league rounds, the win at the Franchi means a return to the top positions and an immediate lift ahead of the close run of fixtures between Serie A and the Champions League.
