2019/2020 has been a season of disappointment for Fiorentina. Inter outclassed us in the Quarter Finals of the Europa League, and with four games to go in Serie A, we’re already guaranteed to fall short of last season’s points tally.
However, this campaign could yet end in glory. The Viola’s long wait for a first trophy since reforming will be over if we can overcome Napoli in the Coppa Italia Final. That would also guarantee us a return to the Europa League Group Stage. Otherwise, we’ll need another top-six league finish to make sure we’re contending for European honours next season.
Whatever happens in May, you can be sure it’ll be nail-bitingly tense…
FIORENTINA vs VERONA (Serie A, Match 35)
If we were to launch a late surge into Serie A’s top four this season, we realistically needed to win all of our remaining matches. Our run-in began at the Artemio Franchi against Verona, whom we’d thrashed 4-0 away from home earlier in the campaign.
Despite being in poor form, Verona were closing in on survival in their first season back up. Samuel Di Carmine could have edged them closer to safety in the second minute, but the striker’s drive was tipped behind by Fiorentina keeper Alban Lafont. That merely delayed their opener by a few moments, as ex-Watford defender Gabriele Angella headed Marco Fossati’s corner in at the near post.
Pietro Pellegri could have levelled from wing-back Almamy Touré‘s cross in the 22nd minute, but Mastini goalie Nícolas caught his header. Nícolas stopped another headed attempt a quarter-hour later from Federico Chiesa, who was not quite in as scintillating form as he’d been in earlier.
Next to be thwarted by Verona’s custodian five minutes from half-time was Valentin Eysseric, from a free-kick. However, Nícolas was subsequently beaten by a rebound strike from his namesake Nicolás Benedetti. The Colombian attacking midfielder’s third goal had been a long time coming, but it sent us into the interval at 1-1.
Benedetti had rarely been in good Nick this season, and the same was true of Nikola Milenkovic. Six minutes into the second half, the Serbian centre-half made one mistake too many for my liking. When Verona winger Daniel Bessa hit a long ball ahead of Di Carmine, Milenkovic tried to chase it before inexplicably easing off. He effectively allowed the striker to sidefoot Lafont and put the visitors 2-1 up.
I quickly hauled Milenkovic off for Federico Ceccherini, and it was left to our other central defender to pick up the pieces. About a minute after falling behind in such frustrating circumstances, captain Germán Pezzella repaired the damage by flicking Valentin Eysseric‘s free-kick in from a tight angle. 2-2.
Pezzella’s leveller could have easily been for nothing. Verona’s midfield playmaker Fossati fired a shot against the crossbar in the 68th minute, six minutes before wing-back Alessandro Crescenzi forced Lafont into another big save. Nícolas made some vital stops at the other end in the closing stages, and so a match that we arguably should have won – and nearly lost – ended in a draw.
As expected, that result killed our Champions League hopes for another year, with Lazio’s 1-0 derby win at Roma putting 4th beyond our reach. It would be a tough ask to finish 5th, as Juventus’ 2-0 win over Bologna sent them eight points clear.
Our focus was now firmly on Atalanta and Torino below us. Unfortunately, they each registered narrow victories – against Udinese and Salernitana – to cut their deficits to four points apiece. Further down the table, Parma’s misery was ended by a 4-2 home loss to Empoli, which confirmed their relegation to Serie B.
And what about the title race? 2nd-placed Milan made light work of Sampdoria, but they couldn’t gain any ground on leaders Inter, whose 3-1 win over Genoa kept them four points ahead. Napoli’s championship push was all but ended by a FIFTH consecutive draw, this latest one coming at Cagliari.
TORINO vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 36)
And so we came to a pivotal match in our quest for another top-six finish. Torino had spent most of the campaign in 7th or 8th, though they perhaps would have overtaken us already had it not been for a recent spate of draws.
Il Toro went on the offensive in the very first minute. A long ball from Lorenzo De Silvestri sent striker Simone Zaza advancing towards goal with significantly more pace than when he took that penalty for Italy against Germany at Euro 2016. Zaza didn’t quite sky the ball over the bar, but Lafont still made a strong save to bail us out.
Lafont was the busier of the two keepers in the first half. While he kept out troublesome efforts from midfielder Julian Baumgartlinger and assist machine Riza Durmisi, counterpart Salvatore Sirigu saw little action until the closing stages. Eysseric was unlucky to hit the bar on 36 minutes, and even unluckier to put a couple of later efforts into Sirigu’s hands.
We seemed to be caught in two minds. On the one hand, we badly needed to win this match and ease some pressure from our shoulders before the cup Final and the remaining league games. On the other, we seemed very risk averse, desperate not to make any mistakes that would potentially scupper our European hopes.
Chiesa went for goal five minutes into the second half. The vice-captain struck Pellegri’s knockdown from a Touré cross with all his might, but the ball clattered Sirigu’s right-hand post before defender Armando Izzo cleared into touch.
After that, there was very little for us to shout about at that end of the pitch. I could have been shouting in anger about events in our half late on, with Torino frequently getting close – but not close enough – to winning the game. Baumgartlinger gave us a couple of scares, while substitute midfielder Daniele Baselli and striker Danny Welbeck also spurned last-gasp opportunities.
We couldn’t really complain about a goalless draw in the end, considering that Torino were perhaps the better team for my money. We remained four points clear of Il Toro in 6th, though our earlier 1-1 draw at the Franchi meant Walter Mazzarri’s men would edge any tie-breaker on away goals.
There was better news in Genoa, where Sampdoria’s 1-0 victory against Atalanta meant the latter trailed us by five points. Barring a couple of victories against Lazio and Inter, La Dea could forget about returning to the top six.
Napoli dropped out of title contention by drawing yet again, with relegation-battling Genoa the latest to take points off them. The title would now be heading to Milan, though probably not to the Rossoneri, who were soundly beaten 3-0 at Lazio. Inter’s 2-1 win over Roma meant they held a five-point cushion ahead of a potentially-decisive city derby.
FIORENTINA vs NAPOLI (Coppa Italia, Final)
And so we came to the biggest game of our season – the Coppa Italia Final, at the Olimpico. We would be rank outsiders to upstage Napoli and claim a first major trophy in 19 years, but there were some reasons to be genuinely optimistic.
For starters, we’d won our last meeting 1-0. We also had a full complement of players to choose from, which was definitely not the case with Napoli, who were missing five first-teamers. Alberto Grassi, Kalidou Koulibaly, Mikel Oyarzábal and Marko Rog were ALL suspended, and Renato Sanches had torn his hamstring in training the previous week. Even so, Carlo Ancelotti could still field a formidable side.
So those were the starting line-ups. Note that I was using an alternative version of my main ‘Fullerball’ tactic, with Bryan Dabo playing as a ball-winning defensive midfielder and Marco Benassi as a deep-lying playmaker further upfield.
Luciano Vietto got the nod ahead of Eysseric, and the winger quickly justified his selection by winning a free-kick off Mário Rui in the second minute. Chiesa swung the free-kick in from out wide, but Pezzella headed just over.
Vietto was involved in another attack in the 10th minute, squaring the ball to Jordan Veretout as the box-to-box midfielder made a run into Napoli’s box. Veretout drove his shot against the post before Eliaquim Mangala cleared for the Partenopei.
The goalkeepers made their first saves midway through the half. Lafont got his gloves to a header from Napoli captain Marek Hamsik, whose team-mate Alex Meret tipped wide a Chiesa strike in the 24th minute. As Veretout sent the subsequent corner into the box, Mangala appeared to push Pellegri to the ground. Carmen Piccolo – the first woman to officiate a Coppa Italia Final – reviewed the footage before awarding us a penalty!
Pellegri was in a confident mood as he stepped up to try and beat Meret from 12 yards. The teenager had converted two penalties and missed two this season… but this would be another unsuccessful attempt. The shot was too close to Meret, who palmed it wide to maintain the deadlock.
Our shoulders noticeably slumped after Pietro’s miss, and we were lucky not to fall behind to a couple of strikes from Dries Mertens later in the first half. Lafont saved them both to send us into the break still level at 0-0. Napoli had arguably edged those opening 45 minutes, but we still believed we could upset the odds.
Three minutes after the restart, Dabo rose above Raúl Albiol to meet another of Chiesa’s free-kicks with a header. Meret caught it easily, and when Chiesa put another set-piece into Napoli’s box in the 55th minute, the Partenopei turned it into a counter-attacking opportunity.
Amadou Diawara’s headed clearance was picked up by Lorenzo Insigne, who spurred his team-mates forward. By the time some extra purple shirts had rushed back to assist our poor wing-backs, it was too late. Insigne lifted the ball into our area for Hamsik to control it with his chest before half-volleying in the opening goal.
Though we tried to battle back from 1-0 behind, the wind had been taken out of our sails. Veretout lashed a vicious shot comfortably over the bar in the 68th minute, though his French compatriot Eysseric did test Meret six minutes later after coming off the bench.
Napoli had several opportunities to bolster their advantage, eventually doing so when our captain lost concentration in the 82nd minute. As soon as Pezzella took his eyes off Mertens, the Belgian ace raced past him to pick up Insigne’s lofted pass and go one-on-one with Lafont. Though Lafont parried Mertens’ first effort, the rebound flew into his net, and we were 2-0 down.
All was not lost, though… or at least it wasn’t until the 86th minute. Substitute Mina could have got us back in the tie when he ran onto Chiesa’s last-ditch cross into the Napoli area. However, the January signing showed why he’d scored just twice in his previous 16 games for Napoli, striking a volley against the post before Meret secured it. With that miss, the cup was confirmed to be heading to Naples.
What if Pellegri had scored that penalty? What if we hadn’t committed so many men forward for that early second-half free-kick? What is Mina’s volley had gone a couple of inches to the right?
It didn’t matter. All the history books would say was that Napoli – not Fiorentina – had won the 2020 Coppa Italia. We just weren’t good enough.
FIORENTINA vs UDINESE (Serie A, Match 37)
That cup defeat was still on our minds when we gave our home tifosi a send-off for the season. The final match at the Franchi this season was against Udinese, who’d spent virtually the entire campaign in mid-table obscurity.
The first half was a feast of shots at both ends. Pellegri struggled to put his Olimpico miss behind him, hitting the bar from a great position on 11 minutes before firing a couple more efforts into Juan Musso’s hands. The biggest threat to Lafont was arguably Musso’s Argentine compatriot Rodrigo De Paul, who troubled our goalie in the 17th minutes.
Neither team was at their best, and Domenico Berardi wasn’t feeling particularly great four minutes from time, when he strained his back. Berardi’s season was over, and on came Chiesa, who would soon find himself in the right place at just the right time. Christian Nørgaard‘s flick-on from a last-minute Eysseric corner was finished at the near post by Chiesa, whose 16th goal this season put our noses in front.
Knowing that only a win would guarantee a top-six finish, I warned my team of the perils of complacency before the second half. That didn’t seem to have the desired effect, as we went into our shell and the Zebrette came out fighting for the second half.
After a series of close calls, Udinese did get their equalising goal midway through the half. None of our defenders kept tabs on Czech midfielder Antonin Barak, who broke away and headed Harry Wilson’s corner home.
About ten minutes later, in the 77th, things went from bad to worse. Visiting substitute Álvaro Medrán got to a weak clearance from Nørgaard and fed it back into the box, where young Colombian striker Juan Hernández lashed in what proved to be the winner. From 1-0 down at the break, Udinese had battled back and condemned us to a fourth home league defeat. We were unbeaten at the Franchi last season, for crying out loud!
That’s our league season in a nutshell, ladies and gentlemen. Some thrilling but fruitless attacking football, followed by a fortunate opener, and then a defensive meltdown.
Torino’s 1-1 draw meant we had still not locked 6th position down, with Il Toro trailing by three points going into our final matches. We would still be in the Europa League no matter what, because Atalanta drew with Lazio and thus could not catch us.
A potential San Siro sizzler ended in a 1-0 Milan win, with Samu Castillejo taking the title race into the final day. Inter would become champions with a home draw against Atalanta on the final Saturday. Any slip-up would give Milan the opportunity to pounce by beating Napoli, who were now guaranteed a Champions League place (Lazio and Juventus would contend for the last one).
SAMPDORIA vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 38)
Our season ended against Stefano Pioli’s Sampdoria, whose pursuit of continental football had faded late on. A draw in Genoa would be enough for us to claim 6th – and a Europa League group spot. Were we to lose, a victory for Torino at home to Pescara would see them leapfrog us, and in turn knock us down into the Europa qualifiers.
Before the match, Pellegri was voted Italy’s Best Under-19s Striker of the season (with Sandro Tonali being named Best Under-19s Midfielder). I was planning to rest Pietro for this match, but with his morale sky-high, I decided to give the loanee one last outing before returning to Monaco. Within six minutes of kick-off, I was desperately hoping he would stay.
Pellegri got his 16th Fiorentina goal just four minutes in, completing a lovely one-two with Chiesa by heading a cross past Esteban. He would use his head to great effect again just two minutes later, converting a fantastic corner from Eysseric to make it 2-0!
Barring another collapse, 6th place was ours… but just five minutes later, we went into a bit of a panic. Lafont made heavy weather of a powerful shot from Yann Karamoh, with his parry gifting the unpredictable Gastón Ramírez a goal for Sampdoria.
Eysseric was another forward who could blow hot-and-cold. Luckily, he was red-hot in the 27th minute, running onto Pellegri’s lobbed pass before dinking it over the onrushing Esteban to restore our two-goal cushion! With that, Valentin became the third Fiorentina player to reach the 15-goal mark this term.
Pellegri had run Samp ragged all half, so they were no doubt glad to see the back of him at half-time. An ankle injury inflicted by defender Omar Colley prevented him from chasing a hat-trick. Even so, 17 goals in 42 Viola appearances was not bad at all, Pietro!
Replacement striker Dusan Vlahovic would miss the target thrice as he aimed to get off the mark this season. His misses looked like proving costly when Jakub Jankto drilled in a second home goal, leaving us on tenterhooks for the final 20 minutes.
Had on-loan Inter winger Karamoh shown more composure in front of goal during those closing stages, he could well have pinched a point for Sampdoria, if not all three. As it was, we hung in there for the 3-2 victory we so desperately wanted.
With that, we secured 6th – and an immediate return to the Europa League Group Stage. Torino drew 1-1 with Pescara in the end, though they too would enter that competition, albeit in the qualifying rounds.
Tonali’s Cagliari fell through the trapdoor into Serie B, as did Salernitana, who battled bravely before losing 2-1 at Lazio. That result would have secured Lazio’s Champions League place, but Juventus’ second-half collapse at bottom side Parma had seen to that anyway. Massimiliano Allegri was later seen anxiously boarding a flight to Madrid, amid reports that Real had lined him up to replace Julen Lopetegui as their coach.
There would be no late twist in the championship race. Inter got the point they needed against Atalanta to secure a 19th scudetto – their first in exactly a decade. Milan had to console themselves with 2nd place, and a 1-0 victory at Napoli, which at least meant the Rossoneri finished on equal points with their hated foes.
And so our hunt for Champions League qualification – and a major trophy – must continue for another season. It kinda feels like we’ve taken one step forward and two back this term.
There will be a 2019/2020 season review coming up in the next few days. My third season with Fiorentina will probably not start for a while yet, as I’m taking a little break from FM to recharge my batteries. Rest assured, I’ll be back soon enough.
“Forza viola!”
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