Hello once again, and welcome to the final part of my Championship Manager Italia mini-series. I’ve been managing Fiorentina in Serie B, and with more than half the season gone, things have been going… rather smoothly, I’d say.
In this closing chapter, I’ll round up the final few months of the 1993/1994 season, as the Viola pursue a league championship and two cup competitions. I’d experienced so much disappointment in FM19, but could this Fiorentina career end in glory?
FEBRUARY 1994
This chapter begins in February – the month in which the Norwegian city of Lillehammer staged the Winter Olympics. The build-up to this event had been overshadowed by some peculiar goings-on at the American team’s ice skating trials.
At this rate, it’d take more than a baton to the knee to stop us from winning Serie B. Things were a bit more complicated when it came to the Coppa Italia, and there was still a strong chance that our second-leg visit to Genoa in the Quarter Final would end tearfully.
SAMPDORIA 1-1 FIORENTINA – Fiorentina win 2-1 on aggregate (Coppa Italia, Quarter Final – Leg 2)
We took a 1-0 first-leg to the Luigi Ferraris… and despite a few wobbles, we held on to our narrow advantage. Sampdoria had several chances to draw level on aggregate, most notably when Fausto Salsano intercepted a sloppy back-pass from Fiorentina defender Alberto Malusci. Fortunately, the midfielder’s shot was poor, as was another effort from Johnny Bosman just before half-time.
Sampdoria’s misses came back to haunt them when Francesco Baiano put us 1-0 up on the night (and 2-0 up overall) just after the break. Yugoslavia midfielder Vladimir Jugovic got the hosts back level, but they needed two more goals to save themselves. They couldn’t even snatch one, and Gianluca Pagliuca’s late penalty save from Baiano offered them little solace.
Fiorentina were into the Semi Finals, and we could now plan for a two-legged contest with Serie A’s sleeping giants Napoli. Please pardon the pun.
PADOVA 0-3 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 22)
Baiano didn’t take long to put his penalty miss behind him. When we were awarded another spot-kick just minutes after kick-off in Padova, he made sure to smash it past the hapless Adriano Bonaiuti. That was Baiano’s 15th goal of the season, and he would soon be joined on double figures by another Viola striker. Nick Barmby marked his return from suspension with a couple of clinical finishes in either half.
While Padova had been pushed closer to relegation, Fiorentina were fast closing in on an immediate return to Serie B. With 16 matches to play, we were already 15 points clear of 5th place.
Unfortunately, Stefan Effenberg picked up yet another yellow card in this game (his 10th of the season), which meant he would miss our next two fixtures.
VICENZA 0-3 FIORENTINA – Fiorentina win 3-0 on aggregate (Anglo-Italian Cup, Semi Final – Leg 2)
Despite only managing a 0-0 draw in our home leg of this Semi Final, we made no mistakes in the return fixture. Centre-back Diego Pellegrini made a pretty big one for Vicenza midway through the first half, gifting Giuseppe Iachini our second goal of the evening. Gabriel Batistuta and Barmby found the net either side of that, and we were 3-0 up at half-time, effectively rendering the second half moot.
We would now have a shot at continental glory (kinda) when we faced Middlesbrough at a neutral venue in March. Lennie Lawrence’s mighty Boro had beaten Swindon 1-0 on aggregate in the English Semi Final.
FIORENTINA 1-0 LUCCHESE (Serie B, Match 23)
Believe it or not, this was top vs bottom! We certainly didn’t play like runaway leaders at first, needing six attempts to score before Batistuta finally found the net, with our 40th league goal this term. That was all we could manage in a surprisingly sub-standard performance, but it was enough. It was yet another defeat for Lucchese and their left-winger Eusebio Di Francesco, who in the mid-1990s more closely resembled a boy band reject than the Matt Berninger tribute act of today.
PALERMO 0-2 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 24)
La Favorita was certainly one of Baiano’s favourite away grounds after this match. He certainly didn’t enjoy it when he was booked for shoving Palermo defender Ciro Ferrera in the first minute (probably because of his future links to Juventus). In the 18th, though, Francesco was all smiles again after scoring his sweet 16th goal of the season. Batistuta followed that up with a looping header, and thus we continued our Serie B dominance.
By the way, check out those match ratings. Filth! Absolute filth!
VERONA 1-1 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 25)
And then we crashed back to Earth. Toldo has more clean sheets than a bed linen enthusiast, but he missed out on another when Gianluca Pessotto beat him after just seven minutes. Verona remained 1-0 up at half-time, and their fans were dreaming of an unlikely victory until Fiorentina captain Stefan Effenberg came to our rescue. The German had clawed back one point, but Baiano uncharacteristically missed an opportunity to clinch a last-gasp victory at the death.
NAPOLI 1-1 FIORENTINA (Coppa Italia, Semi Final – Leg 1)
At first, I thought I was going to get some horrible flashbacks to my last Coppa Italia Semi Final. Thankfully, Sergio Campolo got us off to a strong start against the Serie A strugglers. His goal put us up 1-0 at half-time, though Uruguayan forward Daniel Fonseca cancelled it out.
Napoli then missed a chance to take the lead before defender Giancarlo Corradini was sent off in stoppage time for injuring our left-back Stefano Carobbi. The first leg finished level, and the tie would most certainly be up for grabs when the teams reconvened at the Stadio Communale a few weeks later.
Another month was over, and we claimed our third awards treble of the season. I was Serie B’s Manager of the Month (again), Gianluca Luppi was Player of the Month (again), and Barmby was Young Player of the Month (erm… again).
MARCH 1994
If all went to plan in March, we would lift our first trophy in the Anglo-Italian Cup, as well as secure our immediate return to Serie A. Get ready for some March madness, Italian style!
FIORENTINA 3-0 COSENZA (Serie B, Match 26)
Cosenza might have ended our 100% league record earlier in the season, but we had no problems breaching their defences here. Barmby celebrated his award with another goal to add to a growing collection. He then won us a penalty in the 66th minute, which Baiano converted to end what was an appalling record of two games without scoring. Giacomo Banchelli then came off the bench to put the seal on yet another convincing victory.
VENEZIA 0-2 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 27)
Venezia were out of their depth here, as even without an injured Effenberg, we made light work of Giampiero Ventura’s side. Our defence didn’t let the Arancioneroverdi have a single shot on goal, while we scored from a couple of ours. Gabriel’s 13th ‘Batigol’ of the season was followed up by Francesco’s 18th ‘Baiangol’. The team as a whole was now just two shy of reaching 50 league goals for the campaign.
Also, that result meant we needed only two more wins to secure promotion back to Serie A. Bari and Venezia – sitting 5th and 6th respectively – were 19 points behind us, with only 22 left to play for. It surely wouldn’t be too long before we moved out of their view.
Serie B really was ours to lose, but now we had the opportunity to secure the first part of a potential treble. The Viola flew out to London to face Middlesbrough in the Anglo-Italian Cup Final, in full view of Wembley’s Twin Towers.
FIORENTINA 2-0 MIDDLESBROUGH (Anglo-Italian Cup, Final)
It was perhaps fitting that a Yorkshireman should open the scoring… but that Yorkshireman wasn’t wearing red. It was of course Nicholas Jon Barmby who gave Fiorentina a 1-0 lead after just seven minutes. We then bombarded the Boro with shots, but it wasn’t until the 54th minute that Banchelli doubled our advantage.
From then on, there was never any doubt that we would lift the Anglo-Italian Cup. Luppi was named man of the match after restricting Middlesbrough to just one shot – a wasteful last-ditch effort from their Number 4.
I spent four years at Fiorentina on Football Manager 2019 and didn’t win a single trophy. It took me eight months to win one trophy on Championship Manager Italia. Yes, I’ve taken over two different Viola teams in two different predicaments a quarter of the century apart, but try telling me that FM19 is “too easy” now!
FIORENTINA 1-1 PESCARA (Serie B, Match 28)
Okay, I guess CMI is not “too easy” after all. At home to a Pescara team in the relegation zone, we were expected to win quite comfortably. However, these Dolphins had a bit of bite, as winger Giuseppe Compagno showed when he clattered into Luppi in the 38th minute. Luppi was stretchered off, and Comagno was sent off.
Batistuta broke the 10-man Delfini’s resistance after the interval, and that should’ve been that. Then we were hit by a devastating counter-attack, which ended with Nicolino Rosati – Pescara’s right-back – salvaging a draw. We had dropped a point at home for just the third time this season.
Despite that, our pursuit of promotion had just been made even easier. Bari could only draw 0-0 at Ravenna, while Venezia were beaten at mid-table Cosenza. That meant one more win would secure us an immediate return to the top division.
Now, onto the second leg of that Coppa Italia Semi…
FIORENTINA 1-0 NAPOLI – Fiorentina win 2-1 on aggregate (Coppa Italia, Semi Final – Leg 2)
Good God, we’ve only gone and done it! Effenberg returned from injury to try and lead us to glory, but the German was surprisingly ineffective. Instead, it was up to Campolo to win the day for us, driving a cool second-half strike past Giuseppe Tagliatela to stun the Partenopei. Not even a certain Paolo Di Canio could save Napoli from defeat, which the striker took with his typical good grace.
Thanks to another excellent defensive performance, Fiorentina were into their first Coppa Italia Final since 1975. Awaiting us in the two-legged decider at the end of the season would be none other than Milan’s dream team, who had sauntered past local rivals Inter in their Semi. I could not wait.
FIORENTINA 0-0 BRESCIA (Serie B, Match 29)
It seems Brescia have got our number. The only team to have beaten us all season long had again avoided defeat, surviving 11 shots at goal. Our best opportunity came Batistuta’s way just before the break, but Ivan Gamberini saved that with ease. The Rondinelle then had the chance to snatch another victory, but Marco Piovanelli couldn’t quite come up with the goods that time.
That goalless draw took us up to 50 points, matching the tally that the real-life 1993/1994 Fiorentina team managed. However, as the league table showed, we hadn’t quite secured promotion…
Hold the phone. 5th-placed Bari actually LOST their match 1-0 at Ascoli, which meant that we were indeed going up, with NINE matches to spare!
Now our target was to wrap up the title. How long would that take?
ACIREALE 0-4 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 30)
We celebrated our promotion to Serie A by making oatmeal out of Acireale. Effenberg and Baiano each scored before and after half-time to sum up a truly outstanding Fiorentina performance. The only Viola players who didn’t get 10/10 match ratings were Batistuta and defenders Daniele Carnasciali and Stefano Pioli… who all scored 9/10. Layabouts.
Baiano’s double took him up to 20 goals for the campaign. I’ll be honest with you; out of our striking options, I wasn’t expecting him to be the one who ripped Serie B apart.
As we moved a step closer to securing a memorable treble, we once again cleaned up at the Serie B monthly awards. I was Manager of the Month for a fourth time, Luppi retained his Player of the Month award, and Banchelli regained the Young Player honour.
APRIL 1994
By my calculations, we needed at most four points from our final eight league games to secure the title. If we could beat Modena at the start of April, and other results went our way, we would be able to declare, “Vincerò!”
FIORENTINA 2-0 MODENA (Serie B, Match 31)
This was a real battle, but not in the way that I was expecting. Both teams got stuck into their tackles early on, and when a Modena defender overstepped the mark in the 17th minute, we were awarded yet another penalty. Baiano comfortably despatched it, but he would lose his strike partner three minutes later, when Barmby was sent off for decking Dario Rossi.
Modena were battling relegation and struggling for confidence, so it was perhaps no surprise that they never came close to equalising. Once our defender Vittorio Tosto chipped their goalie Ferro Tontini in the second half, the Canarini were toast.
That result proved to be hugely significant. Fidelis Andria and Verona were the only teams who had chances of catching us, but they lost to Palermo and drew with Pescara respectively. They were both 15 points behind us… with only 14 to play for.
Fiorentina were the champions of Serie B, even with 630 minutes of football still to play! I’m sure you don’t want me to ramble on about those last seven dead rubbers, so I’ll quickly summarise what happened before building up to the big finale – that Coppa Italia Final versus Milan.
VICENZA 0-3 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 32)
Batistuta was disappointing. Baiano was not, scoring a brilliant hat-trick to brush relegation strugglers Vicenza aside. I fear it won’t be too long before he attracts strong interest from big English clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool and… er, Derby.
FIORENTINA 1-0 BARI (Serie B, Match 33)
This was Toldo’s 50th match of the season, but I’ve lost count of how many clean sheets our goalie has kept. He managed another here, though only after striker Tommaso Tatti and defender Giovanni Loseto blazed over early chances for Bari. We were just as profligate until right-back Fabio Di Sole came off the bench to score the solitary goal in our 26th league win!
CESENA 0-1 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 34)
This was our 27th league win, and it was another narrow one. Effenberg slammed home the opener after a quarter of an hour, but we were very slack and couldn’t follow it up. Despite that, Cesena midfielder David Batty would once again leave the field with a face like a slapped backside.
It was another strong month for our defenders. Luppi claimed an incredible third consecutive Player of the Month award, and Malusci took the Young Player prize again. No Manager of the Month for me this time.
MAY 1994
If I was Georgie Thompson on one of the old Sky Sports “Premiership Years” episodes, I’d be talking at this point about the Channel Tunnel’s opening and Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as President of South Africa. As it is, I just want to cut to the chase as quickly as possible, so let’s waste no more time…
FIORENTINA 3-1 PISA (Serie B, Match 35)
There were a couple of naughty bears on display at the Communale in the first half. Pioli was sent off for giving a rude gesture to the away fans, who then saw their defender Davide Lampugnani receive a red card for a horrible tackle on Baiano.
Carobbi put us ahead just before the break, and though Pasquele Rocco (pre his Modern Life) drew the Torri level, their joy didn’t last. Campolo and Effenberg each found the net to power us to another victory.
FIORENTINA 0-0 ASCOLI (Serie B, Match 36)
The Fiorentina strikers – including a barely-recovered Baiano – had an off-day. Fortunately for us, so did Ascoli’s star man Oliver Bierhoff. A fifth Communale draw of the season meant we’d now dropped more points at home than on our travels.
FIDELIS ANDRIA 0-2 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 37)
Fidelis Andria went into this match gunning for promotion to Serie A. Though we denied them a free ticket with another ruthless performance, results elsewhere meant the Leoni Azzurri would be celebrating after all. As for the match, Carobbi found the net once again before Batistuta sealed our 29th league victory. Could we now hit the big 3-0?
ANCONA 0-2 FIORENTINA (Serie B, Match 38)
Yes, we could! A second-string Viola completed the league campaign in style, and in doing so, they condemned Ancona to Serie C football for next season. Antonio Dell Oglio opened the scoring, and then substitute Banchelli bagged our 67th goal, which meant we fittingly finished on 67 points.
The longest title procession in recent Italian league history was over. We had won Serie B by a whopping 20 points from Verona, and we would be joined in Serie A by Ravenna and Fidelis Andria. Going down in the opposite direction were Torino, Lecce, Udinese and Cremonese.
And now it was time for the grand finale. The runaway Serie B champions would take on the Serie A champions for the right to lift the Coppa Italia.
Fabio Capello’s Milan were a team to truly be feared. Marco van Basten – free from the injury nightmares that had plagued his career – had scored 16 goals this season. Brian Laudrup – a former Fiorentina player, no less – was just behind him on 14. Angelo Carbone had been beastly on the left wing, while Paolo Maldini and the evergreen Franco Baresi were rock-solid at the back.
FIORENTINA vs MILAN (Coppa Italia, Final – Leg 1)
After a tentative opening 15 minutes, the deadlock was broken in the 17th minute. It was a moment to forget for Milan defender Gambaro, who chipped the ball over his own goalkeeper Antonioli and gave us a surprise lead! Joy then turned into ecstasy over the next nine minutes, as first Baiano and then Effenberg found the net! We were 3-0 up on arguably the best team in European football!
van Basten pulled one goal back for Milan after the break, and it appeared that normal service had resumed. However, when Baresi horrendously underhit a back-pass in the 58th minute, Campolo pounced on it and put us 4-1 ahead!
4-1 was how it remained at full-time. The two teams had mustered seven shots apiece, but while Milan had been far from clinical, we had been utterly ruthless. We now had one hand clenching the Coppa Italia in its grasp.
Despite not playing in that first leg, Robbiati’s performances in the anchoring midfield role were impressive enough to see him named Serie B’s Player of the Month for May. Campolo took the Young Player award, making it a double for Viola midfielders.
JUNE 1994
And so it had come down to this. Barring a monumental fightback from Milan at the San Siro, Fiorentina would add the Coppa Italia to the Serie B scudetto and the Anglo-Italian Cup. Could we end a magnificent renaissance season by securing the treble?
MILAN vs FIORENTINA (Coppa Italia, Final – Leg 2)
We needed a positive start, and that was just what we got. After just four minutes, Batistuta broke free to slide the ball past Antonini, putting us 5-1 up on aggregate!
Milan were now resorting to doing whatever they could to try and turn the game around. Midfielder Papais was booked for diving in the eighth minute, but when Laudrup did the same thing three minutes later, he was shown a red card! The Danish striker – who’d deserted us following last season’s relegation – was heading for an early bath, and everything was falling into place for the Viola!
van Basten bundled a shot through Toldo’s legs after half an hour to restore a flicker of hope for Milan, but they still needed to find the net at least thrice more. Their difficult task in the second half became almost impossible after 66 minutes, when Batigol netted again. It was 2-1 to Fiorentina on the night, and 6-2 on aggregate!
Two quickfire goals from Carbone and van Basten gave Milan a 3-2 second-leg lead, but when Baiano made it 3-3 shortly afterwards, the contest was effectively over. Not even another Pioli red card for insulting the crowd, or a last-minute winner from Jean-Pierre Papin, could dampen our tifosi‘s wild celebrations at full-time!
Fiorentina had beaten Milan 7-5 on aggregate in the Coppa Italia Final! 12 months after hitting our lowest ebb, we had won the TREBLE!!!
Our achievements here had blown the real-life Viola’s achievements completely out of the water. Claudio Ranieri’s side picked up only 50 points on their way to the league title, while they were knocked out of the Coppa Italia in Round 3 (by Venezia) and the Anglo-Italian Cup at the second group phase.
We only lost two matches all season long – away to Brescia in November, and then in the second leg of that Coppa Italia Final. Frankly, I am astonished that it has been so easy. This Fiorentina team is so strong that – even with only a few signings – I wouldn’t be surprised to see them seriously challenging for the Serie A scudetto next season. However, I think I will quit while I’m ahead, which I never had the opportunity to do in my previous Viola career.
Before I go, I want to quickly salute some of our best performers from this season. The first player to get a special mention is Campolo, who became a first-team regular at just 21. His attributes might not have been amazing, but his ability to control a match was quite something.
“Gianluca Luppi nuts are we, me and him and them and me,
He’ll show you what he can do, with a soccer ball and a pair of boots…”
Yeah, I’m not quite on the same songwriting level as either Chas or Dave, but Luppi was up there when it came to quality left-backs. The selfless defender never registered a match rating below 7, which highlights how consistently strong he was for us. Those performances have helped Viola supporters forget that he used to play for Juventus.
And then we come to the main man – out 5ft 7in pocket rocket Baiano. 26 goals in 49 appearances was an astonishing return for the creative 25-year-old, who formed three strong Ba-Ba partnerships with Batistuta, Barmby and Banchelli. Young Fiorentina supporters don’t count sheep at night; they count Viola strikers.
Finally, I’ll leave you with some screenshots of various player statistics. This is Art… no, sorry… Stat Attack.
Thank you all for joining me on this short adventure through time, back to an era when Italian football was king. I’m hoping to look back on more football management video games from years gone by in the not-too-distant future. Feel free to give any suggestions here, or message me on Twitter @Fuller_FM.
I’ve now returned to Football Manager 2019 and have recently started a new long-term (hopefully) career with Shrewsbury Town. The opening chapters of my next story – “Floreat Salopia” – will hopefully be ready to go live at some point next week. I hope to see you then.
Fuller FM 
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