The 2020/2021 season is almost over, and after some excellent results, I’m now more confident than ever that Fiorentina can qualify for the Champions League. If we can keep up our form in April, there’s no reason why we can’t secure a top-four finish before a tricky run-in May.
We will start off this month with a couple of difficult fixtures against Napoli and SPAL, though we should have it in us to beat Palermo and Chievo on home soil in the next two. Mind you, we’ll have to deliver the goods without one of our main men…
MIDFIELD CRISIS
You’ll remember that Jordan Veretout tore his hamstring right at the end of the last part, thus bringing his season to a premature end. Having sold Nicolás Benedetti a couple of months before then, I was now left with just four senior central midfielders.
Barring injuries and suspension, my starting midfield for Fiorentina’s eight remaining fixtures would consist of ball-winner Lucas Tousart, playmaker Sandro Tonali and box-to-box player Marco Benassi. We also had Christian Nørgaard, who was mainly a deep-lying playmaker but could competently fill either of the other roles.
This would potentially be a significant period in Tonali’s career. Barring injury, suspension or poor form, Sandro could now look forward to an extended run in the starting XI, which would perhaps do wonders for the 20-year-old’s development.
Unfortunately, none of our other senior players could play in central midfield. Central defender Kurt Zouma could be used as a half-back whenever we used our counter-attacking tactic, but even that would be quite a stretch.
That meant I didn’t have much choice but to promote a couple of Primavera players to the senior squad. Gian Marco Neri (age 18) had made his senior debut against Sampdoria in February and was now in line for further action.
Roberto Fusco (17) would also train with the first-team for the foreseeable future. He was one of the brighter prospects to come from our youth intake last season, and he already had decent attributes for a deep-lying playmaker of his age. On the minus side, Roberto was quite low on self-belief, and we needed to get his confidence levels up if he was ever to make the grade as a professional footballer.
I would also have Davide Di Clemente (19) on standby in the Under-20s. The mezzala was set to be out of contract in the summer, but some impressive performances at youth level had convinced me to offer him a new deal. If things got really desperate, I would even consider switching back to a 4-2-3-1 formation and playing 18-year-old Moussa N’Da in the attacking midfield slot.
FIORENTINA vs NAPOLI (Serie A, Match 31)
While the scudetto looked to be heading to the blue-and-black half of the San Siro, 2nd place in Serie A was well and truly up for grabs. Whoever won here between Fiorentina and Napoli would go three points clear of their rival and hold a significant head-to-head advantage. Of course, there were several other teams below us – headed by Juventus – but this match felt hugely significant.
First blood was drawn after six minutes. Marko Rog’s foul on Viola right-back Almamy Touré gave us a free-kick from a deep position. Federico Chiesa took charge of the free-kick and hoisted it to the back post, where Tousart unleashed a bullet header that Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret could only help into the net.
Benassi looked for another early Fiorentina goal in the 12th minute, but Meret managed to push it away. Another great chance emerged on 25 minutes for Domenico Berardi – back in our starting XI for the first time since January. Berardi could’ve put on another of his customary parties had his header from Chiesa’s left-wing cross not rattled the bar before being cleared by Eliaquim Mangala.
Napoli’s own attacks were somewhat lacking in quality, and it wasn’t until the second half that they started to put Alban Lafont under serious pressure. Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik and Amadou Diawara all got shots on target, but when they did equalise in the 57th minute, it was through another player.
It was some incisive Partenopei passing that proved to be our undoing. The experienced Juan Mata picked out Elseid Hysaj in space on the right flank, and the Albanian wing-back’s cross was met by an excellent header from Brazilian attacking midfielder Talisca. It was now 1-1, and had either Kalidou Koulibaly or Insigne been more clinical later on, the visitors could well have been leading.
Though Meret caught a 67th-minute header from Pietro Pellegri, our next attack two minutes later would get the better of the 24-year-old custodian. After Touré sent the ball across Napoli’s box, Pellegri deftly sidefooted it inside to Chiesa, who lashed in a truly sublime volley.
The final 20 minutes were nervy for our supporters. Alessandro Bastoni almost put the game to bed in the 73rd minute before Napoli pushed forward again late on, only for Mata to send a last-ditch effort high over the bar. When the full-time whistle blew with the score still 2-1, we celebrated a fantastic and potentially vital victory!
Things were now looking fantastic for us, as most of the teams below us had tripped up. 4th-placed Juventus were now four points behind after losing 1-0 at Chievo, while Roma in 5th were on the wrong end of the same scoreline at Atalanta. Torino let a lead slip three times in a 4-4 draw with Sassuolo, and Pescara were soundly beaten 3-0 at home by Milan.
Even Inter had a bad day. Lautaro Martínez gave them an early lead at home to Udinese, but Marco van Ginkel saved a point for the Zebrette. The Nerazzurri’s lead was now down from 12 points to 10.
SPAL vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 32)
Claudio Ranieri’s SPAL had already inflicted our first (and thus far only) home defeat of the Serie A season. Now they were setting out to ruin my 31st birthday by doing the double over us in Ferrara. Were they to pull it off, the newly-promoted Biancazzurri would have a great chance of qualifying for Europe for the first time in their history.
My strategy was to play the king of the counter-attack at his own game. We adopted the same cautious approach that had earned us victory at Juventus in our last away fixture. After SPAL failed to convert either of their first two shots into goals during the opening 20 minutes, we looked to capitalise.
Once again, it was a stunning free-kick from Chiesa that set the ball rolling. His lofted delivery evaded everyone in a white SPAL jersey and found Tonali, who looked red-hot in red as he flicked in the opening goal. The referee consulted VAR before pointing to the centre circle, thus allowing Sandro to celebrate.
Another of our youngsters would also get on the scoreboard when we doubled our lead in the 37th minute. The move began with Tousart flicking another Chiesa set-piece towards goal. SPAL keeper Alfred Gomis got a glove to it, but his colleagues failed to clear the danger before Radamel Falcao slid the ball across for Willem Geubbels to gobble it up.
Geubbels could have added an assist to his goal early in the second half, but his through-ball to Chiesa resulted only in a strong save from Gomis. Then, after 50 minutes, a dominant display from Fiorentina took a potential turn for the worse. Tonali lunged in on Biancazzurri winger Matheus Pereira, only to injure his calf. The 20-year-old playmaker’s game was up.
Tonali’s early exit could have been fateful, but SPAL just couldn’t fight back, as our defence managed to deprive their strikers of opportunities. Even when midfielder Jasmin Kurtic and left-back Danilo Avelar did get shots on target, Lafont produced confident saves to keep the scoreline at 2-0. No joy for Ranieri this time.
That result would give us a seven-point advantage on the teams in 4th and 5th. Juventus suffered their third straight defeat in a 4-3 thriller with Atalanta, while Roma drew level on points with them after an unexpected 4-0 demolition of Inter. Napoli saw off Chievo by a single goal to keep us under some pressure from 3rd place.
BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS
Tonali was assessed by our medical staff after the SPAL game and was found to have pulled a calf muscle. That would put him out for at least a fortnight, which meant he would definitely miss our next match and perhaps up to two more.
We were now at panic stations. Our remaining senior midfielders – Benassi, Nørgaard and Tousart – would need to be figuratively wrapped up in cotton wool for the next few weeks. Keeping them all fit and healthy was an absolute must.
[Poor French accent] Three days later…
Oh, for God’s sake! Now we really were down to the bare bones in midfield!
I now had two options to choose from tactically. The first would be to stick with the 4-3-3 and play one of those raw teenagers in midfield, which would potentially be problematic. The second would be to temporarily switch a 4-2-3-1 and field either Berardi, Valentin Eysseric or Patrick Roberts as a shadow striker. After thinking things over, I decided to take the former option.
On a brighter note, the board were now happy to offer me a new contract, which had three months left to run. I was hoping to postpone the talks until the end of the season, but the game didn’t give me the option (an oversight on SI’s part, maybe?). Even so, with Fiorentina now looking good to qualify for the Champions League, I was happy enough to commit my future to the club.
So it’s a three-year contract extension… but that does not necessarily mean “Shades of Deep Purple” will carry on for another three seasons. I’ll make an announcement about the long-term future of this story in the Season Review later this week.
I even eked out an extra €5,000 per week out of the board. I may not be able to spend it on pointless accessories or luxuries like one could on FIFA Manager back in the day, but it should give me some extra job security.
FIORENTINA vs PALERMO (Serie A, Match 33)
In normal circumstances, we would have been wholly convinced that we could brush Palermo aside on home soil. The Sicilian minnows were now under the caretaker management of Giuseppe Scurto, having sacked Gian Piero Gasperini earlier this month after he won just one of his 27 matches in charge. Yes, that lone victory was against Inter, but those other 26 results had left his team fighting what appeared to be a losing battle against relegation.
For us, things had been complicated by the presence of a 19-year-old debutant in our midfield. Di Clemente did not put a foot wrong in the first half, by which I mean he completed 26 out of 26 passes. Despite that, he still looked very nervous, and his poor movement contributed to us not scoring before half-time.
Di Clemente’s biggest contribution was arguably to block a shot from Palermo’s right-back Andrea Rispoli before it could find our net in the 15th minute. Rispoli tried his luck again six minutes later, forcing Lafont to tip the ball wide.
At the other end, the best shot we could muster was a 24th-minute header from Pellegri, which was caught by Rosanero keeper Giorgi Makaridze. I would make major changes at half-time, most notably switching to a counter-attacking formation. An ineffective Berardi was subbed off for Geubbels, while I replaced Di Clemente with a more experienced midfielder in Neri, who was… ahem, three months younger.
Our fortunes would turn eight minutes into the second half. After Rispoli headed a Touré cross out of Palermo’s box, Viola playmaker Nørgaard played it back into danger. His target was Chiesa, who turned sharply before driving in an irresistible shot to break the deadlock!
We would then score again in the 57th minute. While Geubbels was engaged in an impromptu line dance on the touchline with opposition striker Ilija Nestorovski (seriously), Pellegri led the visiting defence a merry dance. Pietro picked up a quick throw from Touré, turned past a couple of defenders, and then cut in the goal that ended his eight-match scoreless run.
Though Pellegri and Geubbels each missed chances to further enhance our lead, 2-0 would be enough. Palermo rarely threatened to get a goal back until the last minute of injury time, when Lafont bravely blocked Rispoli’s vicious volley on his line. The young Frenchman had kept yet another clean sheet and helped us to a fourth straight victory.
It would surely take an astonishing collapse for us not to qualify for the Champions League now. Not only had Roma fallen further adrift by losing 3-1 at Genoa, but Juventus’ season had hit a new nadir when they were thrashed 4-0 by Inter. In addition, Napoli lost again – this time at Atalanta – and were now just a single point above 4th-placed Milan, who got a last-minute winner at Torino.
FIORENTINA vs CHIEVO (Serie A, Match 34)
We were back at the Franchi again the following week to face another team who were battling for their Serie A status. Chievo’s recent form had been more ‘inconsistent’ than Palermo’s truly shocking record, so I was expecting more of a test from Marco Giampaolo’s men here.
The importance of this fixture could not be overstated. One more victory would effectively guarantee us Europa League football. If other results went our way as well, it was possible that we could secure a top-four finish and upgrade that continental place to a Champions League spot. That would lift a lot of pressure from our shoulders going into next month’s run-in.
After three substitute appearances, Neri was given his first start in this match. While young Gian Marco certainly didn’t disgrace himself, he too was struggling a wee bit with nerves. It would take a midfielder who possessed rather more pedigree to give us the advantage after 20 minutes.
In his 103rd competitive appearance for Fiorentina, Nørgaard finally opened his goalscoring account by unleashing a fine header from Roberts’ left-wing free-kick. Afterwards, our quick-thinking club DJ played The Vaccines’ tribute song to Nørgaard over the tannoy in celebration. His name is Amanda, right?
Neri also wanted to get on the board, but his 43rd-minute half-volley was secured by Chievo goalkeeper Andrea Seculin. Meanwhile, the Clivensi got hardly any opportunities to counter Nørgaard’s opener. 20-year-old winger Emanuel Vignato tried a speculative shot from distance in the 32nd minute, but it was never beating Lafont.
Seculin had plenty of work to do to keep Chievo’s heads above water in the second period. Zouma was twice kept off the scoreboard, while substitutes Eysseric and Neri also had shots saved. Neri had grown gradually more apprehensive as the match had progressed, so after 67 minutes, I decided to take him out of the firing line. Taking his place was 17-year-old Fusco – the first ‘newgen’ to make a competitive debut for Fiorentina in this save.
This probably had F all to do with Fusco, but we would at last get our second goal within two minutes of his introduction. Touré thrilled the home fans once again with another impressive cross to Eysseric, whose header moved him further ahead in the goalscoring charts for us this season.
Eysseric still had more in the tank, and the French flyer reached the 15-goal mark for a second straight season in injury time. His second strike of the evening was a tidy low finish from a counter-attacking cross by Chiesa, who’d now got either a goal or an assist in four consecutive matches. Our top players were hitting top form at just the right time!
A 3-0 win was safely in the bag, and so too was a top-six finish, which meant we could look forward to playing in the Europa League at worst next season. Of course, our Twitterati had loftier ambitions:
We’re looking very good to achieve that, lads. Juventus ended their losing streak with an unconvincing 1-1 draw against mid-table Genoa. Even so, their shocking form meant we only needed one more point to ensure we finished above the Bianconeri for the first time since they returned to Serie A in 2007.
Juve were now down in 6th place behind Roma, who’d inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Pescara that left the Delfini unable to overtake us. One point would potentially be enough to stay ahead of the Giallorossi on head-to-head, though two would seal the deal – and a Champions League return for Fiorentina.
Milan beat Bologna 2-0 to strengthen their hold on a top-four place, and Napoli did likewise with a confident 3-0 win over Inter. That meant – with four matches to play – Serie A’s top six was as follows:
In the space of a month, we had cut Inter’s lead at the top from 12 points to four. With the Nerazzurri still to visit the Artemio Franchi, we could yet pull off an incredible comeback and (whisper it) snatch the scudetto from their grasp…
Well… if we’re going to achieve that, we’re going to have to do it the hard way.
Safe to say that’s set things up very nicely for the season finale. Two points from four games will be enough to get us into the Champions League, but if we can continue that winning streak until the very end… well, who knows what could happen?
You will not want to miss Part 32, that is for sure!
“Forza viola!”
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