We’re now in February 2022, and Fiorentina are ready to do battle with Napoli on two fronts. As well as contending for the Serie A scudetto (alongside Udinese), this month sees the Viola and the Partenopei cross swords in a two-legged Coppa Italia Semi Final.
It’s sure to be a real ‘clash of the titans’, involving two sides who are back to their best after many, many years in the shadows. Fiorentina’s recent form harks back to the 1999/2000 heyday of Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa. As for Napoli, they haven’t been this good since 1990, when Diego Maradona and Careca were in their pomp, and I was but a newborn baby.
Okay, I think that’s just about enough 90s nostalgia, don’t you? If I carry on like this, I might as well rename the blog “BuzzFeed” and start posting video clips from “Kenan & Kel” all the time. I’d also give my articles more clickbaity titles like, “You Won’t Believe What Enrico Chiesa’s Son Looks Like Now!”
FIORENTINA vs NAPOLI (Coppa Italia, Semi Final – Leg 1)
What better way to kick off this chapter than with the first leg of that Coppa Italia Semi? It really was anyone’s guess as to who would draw first blood at the Artemio Franchi. We might have been on a 10-game unbeaten run, but Napoli could boast an undefeated streak double the length – their last loss coming at Bayer Leverkusen way back in October.
It was us who made the more positive start, with Marco Benassi having a shot saved by Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret in just the second minute. Seven minutes later, Valentin Eysseric saw his near-post corner nodded just off target by Daniele Rugani.
Rugani’s central defensive partner Alessandro Bastoni was rock-solid during the middle stages of the first half. Bastoni showed bravery and composure beyond his 22 years to get in the way of a couple of strikes from Partenopei midfielder Renato Sanches. Thanks largely to him, Napoli were generally limited to hopeful long-range shots, most of which were blocked.
This was becoming another defensive masterclass at both ends, with neither striker – Mario Mandzukic for Fiorentina, or Arkadiusz Milik for Napoli – making the most of their limited opportunities. Milik’s best contribution for the hosts came in the 65th minute, when his slide tackle dispossessed Viola captain Lucas Tousart in our area. That gave attacking midfielder Talisca a fantastic chance to fire the loose ball into the net, but he couldn’t get it beyond André Onana.
Talisca’s miss would be magnified after 73 minutes. A positive spell of play from Fiorentina eventually saw Bastoni make the breakthrough from a Cristiano Biraghi corner, flicking it beyond Meret’s despairing drive.
Alex’s first goal of the season would be the difference at the midway point of this Semi Final. Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne couldn’t missed an optimistic long-ranger in the 89th minute, while playmaker Amadou Diawara’s injury-time drive was blocked by Tousart. Our football might not have been pretty, but it had given us a narrow first-leg lead.
Udinese held the advantage in the other Semi Final, with two early goals from Ignacio Pussetto setting them on their way to a 2-1 home win over Milan. Having won neither Serie A nor the Coppa Italia in their 126-year history, could the Zebrette yet be celebrating an unlikely doppio?
Inter’s hopes of a triplo scudetto were surely gone now, having drawn 0-0 at Pescara in their midweek Serie A game. It was astonishing to think that the champions were now 17 points off the championship pace, with only 15 games left to play. Arguably just as concerning to the Nerazzurri was that André Gomes – aka the Portuguese Steve Walsh – received his FOURTH red card of the season.
FIORENTINA vs TORINO (Serie A, Match 24)
Only one Serie A team had beaten us at home this season, but despite being in mid-table, I thought Torino had it in them to emulate Roma. Il Toro were thus far undefeated under their new coach Simone Inzaghi. Walter Mazzarri had stormed out in mid-December, having been given his marching orders with the club just above the drop zone.
At first, we looked like upsetting Inzaghi’s rhythm by breaking the deadlock first. The visitors withstood three corners in the first 20 minutes before a positive Viola spell ended with Federico Bernardeschi skimming a header over the bar. It was an excellent cross from Alexandru Măţan which had produced that opportunity.
Then, after 26 minutes, we conceded our first goal of the year… in similar circumstances to which we gave up our first of the season. Back in September, Alban Lafont was caught in possession by a former Torino forward in Andrea Belotti. This time, it was Il Toro’s current number 9 – Simone Zaza – who stole the ball off our keeper and slotted it into an empty net. Alban was red-faced, as was Belaïd Nemdil, whose back-pass he had failed to move forward quickly enough.
Torino thus had an unexpected 1-0 lead at the break, but they would only stay in front until two minutes into the second half. My angry half-time team-talk fired Bernardeschi up, as he slipped the ball through a channel for Măţan to get past visiting right-back Sébastien Corchia and slam in the equaliser.
Corchia tried to restore Il Toro’s advantage in the 52nd minute with a cross to Zaza, but the fearless frontman’s header was caught by a relieved Lafont. Zaza and Lafont confronted each other again about 20 minutes later, with the same outcome.
While I’d used all my substitutions up by the 75th minute, Inzaghi kept his in reserve before making all three changes with 10 minutes remaining. The introductions of teenage poacher Ivano Caria, Spanish wideman Iago Falqué and utility man James Milner could have worked wonders on another day. In the end, though, our defenders kept their nerve to prolong our unbeaten run.
Though Benassi and Bernardeschi each came mightily close to snatching victory late on, I was still content with a point. The teams had been pretty even on most statistics, so a 1-1 draw was perhaps the fairest result.
While I looked on the positive side of this result, there were others who perhaps saw this as two points dropped. They might have had a point. Napoli pulled six points clear of us again when Piotr Zielinski grabbed a late winner at Pescara, while Udinese knocked us off 2nd with a 3-1 victory at Bologna.
Juventus’ 2-0 win at Frosinone strengthened their hold on 4th, especially with Atalanta and Milan each suffering away defeats to SPAL and Roma respectively. Inter could only draw 2-2 at Empoli – a result that put coach Luciano Spalletti under even more pressure.
NEMDIL’S UNHAPPY AGAIN
I’ve read quite a few complaints on the Sports Interactive forums from FMers who are seeing their players request new contracts within a year of signing their current deals. Football Manager is a game that prides itself on realism, so for all we know, this could be a common occurrence at top clubs. That being said, I’m starting to think they might have a point.
Regular readers may recall that, in season two, I had Nicolás Benedetti and Domenico Berardi ask for new contracts about seven or eight months after joining Fiorentina. They eventually got what they wanted, but I was determined not to let anyone else try the same trick on me.
Cue Nemdil, who burst into my office and asked for a new deal, even though he wasn’t even eight months into a four-year deal. I told him that he’d have to wait until the end of the season before discussing fresh terms, but he wasn’t having it:
You know… I’m starting to think Belaïd might be a bit of a moaning Myrtle. Even before the season started, he was already complaining of homesickness and claiming that I’d brought Rugani in to replace him. I know the lad’s 17 years old and prodigiously talented, but he seriously needs to grow up.
A few hours later, I called another of our Frenchmen in for a chat. Vice-skipper Tousart was an excellent leader and a strong influence in the dressing room, so I asked him if he would have a quiet word with Nemdil. He obliged:
What a gem you are, Lucas. Thanks for setting the kid straight.
That still wasn’t enough to save Nemdil from being dropped for our next game. After his poor performance against Torino, and then his latest Nicolas Anelka-esque tantrum, there was no way I was fielding him at Empoli.
EMPOLI vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 25)
If we were to sustain a title challenge, we needed to get back to winning ways before a difficult run of games in March and April that included meetings with Napoli and Udinese. The first of our must-win fixtures was away to our local rivals, who were themselves involved in a real battle – to stay clear of relegation.
We took the game to the hosts early on, with captain Federico Chiesa missing a chance in the 12th minute shot after Kevin Diks‘ cross had rebounded off Azzurri defender Joachim Andersen. Nine minutes later, Chiesa sent a promising corner delivery to Sandro Tonali, but the young playmaker couldn’t meet it with a clean connection with his head.
Our most likely attacker in the first half was Măţan, who had a 20-yard drive clawed away by Empoli goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano in the 24th minute. The Romanian forward missed the target with his next couple of efforts, but to be fair, he was hampered by a knock. Eysseric replaced Măţan for the second half, but he didn’t make much of a difference to our fortunes.
Empoli had found our net in the 35th minute through centre-half Francesco Cassata. Fortunately for us, he was caught offside after stabbing in Afriyie Acquah’s flick-on from Sofiane Boufal’s free-kick. The Azzurri offered little in way of an attacking threat thereafter.
Another free-kick in the 63rd minute turned Cassata from potential home hero to villain. After Boufal had tripped Chiesa in a dangerous position, the Fiorentina skipper hoisted a free-kick towards the far post. Cassata’s headed interception only went as far as our left-back Cristiano Biraghi, who outjumped Empoli’s on-loan Viola right-back Foguete to nod in the deadlock-breaker.
Empoli winger Darko Lazovic sought an equaliser in the 74th minute, but he was never really going to beat Lafont at his near post from 20 yards. Six minutes later, Borna Barisic’s corner was flicked into our six-yard box by Andersen, and Ivory Coast midfielder Soualiho Meité was in despair after nodding it clean over the bar. With a more clinical finish, we might have been left with only a draw, but we did just about get another win on the board.
Napoli also scraped home with a 1-0 win over Chievo, with Milik the scorer. Udinese needed a late Matteo Guendouzi strike to overcome Juventus by the same score. I thought selling star midfielder Rolando Mandragora to Bayern München at the end of January might have spoiled Udinese’s fairytale season, but they didn’t appear to be letting up yet.
SPEZIA vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 26)
The Alberto Picco in La Spezia had a capacity of 10,336, making it the second-smallest stadium in Serie A by some margin (only Carpi’s Sandro Cabassi was smaller). Spezia were punching well above their weight, and despite only having three wins thus far, a spate of draws had kept them above the drop zone in recent weeks.
Cristian Bucchi’s minnows were the top flight’s lowest scorers, and they had only one shot at goal in the first half. Loanee midfielder Antonio Napolitano could have scored against his parent club, but his header from Timo Letschert’s free-kick bounced wide. Prior to that, Spezia goalkeeper Eugenio Lamanna had saved a couple of early Fiorentina strikes from Bernardeschi and Tonali.
The rest of the opening period was a real scrap. Midfielder Giulio Maggiore and left-back Roberto Crivello were each booked for fouls on Bernardeschi, whose movement on the right wing was proving a handful. Bernardeschi would go up front for the second half, as Dusan Vlahovic had not offered any real threat to Spezia’s defence.
A third yellow card was handed out in the 55th minute, to Aquile centre-half Giancarlo González. The Costa Rican was not to be confused with Viola centre-half Yesid Gonzalez, who would celebrate his 20th birthday the following day. However, it was his partner Nemdil who got the present of a ‘man of the match’ award, having helped restrict the hosts to just one shot on target all game.
How many shots on target could we muster in the second half? None. Spezia specialised in 0-0s, and their defensive resilience – combined with a pitiful lack of imagination on our part – ensured they got another. For the first time this season, we’d failed to win a league match that I honestly felt we should’ve.
Our title rivals had not looked convincing themselves. Udinese missed out on beating Sassuolo after conceding in the 90th minute, while Napoli let a 3-1 lead slip at Frosinone before drawing 3-3.
4th-placed Juventus sensed an opportunity to strike, and a 2-0 win over Inter moved them back within six points of the top three. Having held 5th place for a week, Inter meekly surrended it to rivals Milan, who were emphatic 6-1 winners at home to Genoa.
NAPOLI vs FIORENTINA (Coppa Italia, Semi Final – Leg 2)
And now onto the big one – the second leg of our Coppa Italia Semi. Of course, we held a slender 1-0 lead ahead of our trip to Naples, so there could be no room for complacency. I made that perfectly clear to the players before kick-off.
My team talk appeared to have a detrimental effect, as we began tentatively, while Napoli fearlessly attacked from the outset. In the second minute, Diawara saw his shot from just inside the area rebound off Biraghi and back to him. He quickly moved the ball out right to Willian, and the on-loan Chelsea forward’s half-volley erased our advantage.
Napoli continued to take the game to us early on, with Milik and centre-back Clément Lenglet each sending headers just over the crossbar. Were we to equalise, though, the Partenopei would need to score twice more to have any chance of progressing. Bastoni was our hero from the first leg, and he nearly produced the goods again in the 20th minute… but his header from Bernardeschi’s free-kick was easily caught by Meret.
Barely a minute later, though, Bastoni did score from another free-kick. Unfortunately, the young central defender turned Milik’s flick-on past a helpless Onana after Insigne drifted a free-kick in from the right. Napoli now led 2-0 on the night, and 2-1 on aggregate.
Carlo Ancelotti had the upper hand over me now. His Polish eagles Milik and Zielinski each threatened to pile on the misery later in the first half, but their profligacy meant we were fortunate to still have only a narrow deficit at the break.
Jordan Veretout and Chiesa both came on for the second half as we chased the game. Eysseric tried a couple of ambitious shots from outside the area early on, one of which was awkwardly tipped behind by Meret. We couldn’t build on that postive start, though, and it wasn’t until the closing stages that we started to come alive again.
Măţan took Eysseric’s place for the final 20 minutes or so as we went for broke. It was all or nothing for the Romanian speedster when he beat Napoli right-back Pol Lirola to a Mandzukic through-ball. He just needed to cut the ball past Meret from a somewhat tricky angle to put us back on track for the final… but the excellent home custodian got his gloves to it. Our chance had come and gone.
Though some excellent goalkeeping from Onana prevented Napoli from increasing their lead, the Cameroonian’s efforts were to no avail. While a Bastoni goal at the right end had decided the first leg, a Bastoni goal at the wrong end had settled the tie. For the second time in three years, the Partenopei had shattered our Coppa Italia dreams.
Ancelotti’s charges would head to the Olimpico on 11 May, attempting to regain the trophy that they had last won at our expense in 2020. Their opponents would be Udinese, whose 1-1 draw at the San Siro saw them secure a 3-2 win over Milan in the other Semi Final. The Zebrette’s only previous appearance in the Coppa Italia Final was during the first ever running of the competition, exactly 100 years ago.
FIORENTINA vs ATALANTA (Serie A, Match 27)
Having won one of our last four matches, we were experiencing our worst slump since ‘Black November’ (or ‘Novembre Nero’, to be more precise). We’d let the Coppa Italia slip, and now the pressure was on us to not let a scudetto challenge disintegrate. The first of our final dozen fixtures in pursuit of Serie A glory was at home to 8th-placed Atalanta.
La Dea had lost their last three league matches, and that run looked like continuing after a remarkable start from Fiorentina. In just the fourth minute, Christian Nørgaard set up an astounding 20-yard drive from midfield colleague Benassi, which left Marco Sportiello a virtual bystander in the Atalanta goal.
Seven minutes later, things were getting even better for us. Touré showed his eye for a killer cross by sending a delivery towards the six-yard box from a very deep position. Up came Chiesa, who surged past the defence and volleyed us into an early 2-0 lead!
We continued to pressurise the visitors, with Sportiello bravely having to stop Vlahovic and then Bernardeschi from putting us completely beyond their reach. We were showing real passion on the attack, and we were much the same in our tackling. Emil Antonsen, Emerson and Benassi would all be booked before half-time for over-the-top challenges, which was a gentle reminder that we should not get too carried away.
Atalanta finally showed up early in the second half, and though Stevan Jovetic couldn’t find the target from a 47th-minute free-kick, his fellow attackers were producing the goods. Eight minutes later, on-loan Arsenal youngster Matías Pellegrini crossed from the left wing with his apparently weaker right foot. It was an absolute peach of a delivery to right-winger Yann Karamoh, whose emphatic finish made it ‘game on’ at 2-1.
The next half-hour or so passed by without too many major scares, but Atalanta were slowly warming up by the 86th minute. An anxious Viola defence invited pressure on itself, and I could only look on helplessly while Pellegrini dribbled between Touré and Nørgaard before curling in a fantastic shot from our ‘D’. La Dea had retrieved a 2-0 deficit, and now the match appeared to be heading in one direction.
Barely a couple of minutes later, however, we proved the doubters wrong. Atalanta gave Touré a criminal amount of space on the right flank, allowing to take Nørgaard’s cross-field pass forwards before crossing into the box. Defenders Rafael Tolói and Davide Bettella were both beaten to the ball by a majestic leap from Vlahovic, whose header secured just his third goal this season and put us 3-2 in front!
Then we really rubbed it in. Chiesa’s corner evaded the Atalanta defence, allowing Rugani to nod it home and put the seal on a thrilling 4-2 Fiorentina win!
Our title rivals then did battle at the San Paolo, where I felt a draw would suit us to the ground. Facundo Colidio opened the scoring for visitors Udinese with his league-leading 14th goal of the campaign, but an early second-half red card to Guendouzi changed the game. Three goals in the final half-hour saw Napoli emerge 3-1 winners, thus retaining a six-point lead in the standings.
Juventus also won their game 3-1 at Roma, whose new manager Thorsten Fink had now overseen four defeats in his first six matches. Inter rebounded with a 3-0 win over Genoa, which saw them leapfrog Lazio and Milan into 5th.
So… 11 matches remain, but now our schedule gets tougher. Our next three matches happen to be against Udinese (who beat us last time), Roma (who beat us last time) and Inter (who’ll probably beat us if Gomes stays on the pitch). Then we must travel to Lazio before hosting Napoli in what could potentially be a title-decider.
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