Compper!! Fiorentina Advance!

Fiorentina and Siena faced off in another wild and crazy Tuscan Darby to continue on in the Coppa Italia and the match was as intense as advertised. This match had it all: terrible weather, even worse officiating, an early goal, a second half equalizer, a late goal, injuries, chippy play and even a little pushing and shoving.

The match started off with a bang as Josep Ilicic split two defenders and appeared, at least to everyone in purple, to be taken down in the box, but ref Piero Giacomelli didn't see it that way, Replays seemed to show some contact with his feet.

Siena, however, decided to make up for the mistake by gifting Ilicic another chance and he made no mistake, slamming the ball past the Siena goalie. Fiorentina made the goal stand until halftime.

Giacomelli had another chance to give la Viola a penalty as Mati Fernandez was kicked in the midriff in the box, but inexplicably declined to give the kick again,

A few minutes later Borja Valero had to come off the pitch with an injury and was replaced by David Pizarro. Early reports from the locker room say that it's a muscular issue and could be bad news. The player will be evaluated tomorrow.

Siena pushed back in the second half more and more and Fiorentina allowed the visitors the space they needed to work and by the 60 minute mark Siena made them pay as Giacomazzi Guillermo headed in the equalizer.

Vincenzo Montella then rolled the dice bringing in Juan Vargas to replace Manuel Pasqual had been very ineffective moving forward early in the match, but had deferred to Joaquin and played more of a defensive role the rest of the time he was in.

The move paid off nearly immediately as Fiorentina move back into the lead to stay as Marvin Compper broke away from his defender and headed in a corner from Ilicic.

Ilicic had to come off the field a few minutes later as he hurt a shoulder or a neck. A statement from Daniele Prade say the injury is not serious.

Fiorentina had two balls go off the pole before finishing off the match. They will go on to play a home and away series with Udinese for the right to go to the Final.

Report Cards

Have to rush this review as I have an early start in the morning. Feel free to ad your own ratings

Neto(7) -

Roncaglia(6) -
Rodriguez(6) -
Compper(7) -
Pasqual(5) -

Fernandez(6) -
Aquilani(6) -
valero(7) -

Cuadrado(6) -
Ilicic(7) -
Joaquin(6) -

Subs
Pizarro for Valero
Matos for Ilicic
Vargas for Pasqual

Montella(6) -

Hi Lights

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Coppa Italia Goals

(Players scoring in this match have an *)

Compper(1) *
Ilicic(1) *
Joaquin(1)
Rebic(1)

Yellow Card Accumulation

(Players receiving yellow cards in this match have an *, red cards #)

Ambrosini (2)
Cuadrado (1) *
Ilicic (1) *
Roncaglia(1) *
Valero (1)

Looking Ahead

Sun Jan 26 2:45 ET Fiorentina v Genoa
Sun Feb 2 9:00 ET Cagliari v Fiorentina
Sun Feb 9 9:00 ET Fiorentina v Atalanta
Sun Feb 16 9:00 ET Fiorentina v Internazionale
Thu Feb 20 1:00 ET Esbjerg v Fiorentina - Europa League (Second Round)
Sun Feb 23 9:00 ET Parma v Fiorentina
Thu Feb 27 3:05 ET Fiorentina v Esbjerg - Europa League (Second Round)
Sun Mar 2 2:45 ET Fiorentina v Lazio
Sun Mar 9 7:30 ET Juventus v Fiorentina
Thu Mar 13 TBD ET Juventus/Trabzonspor v Esbjerg/Fiorentina - Europa League (Third Round)
Sun Mar 16 3:45 ET Fiorentina v Chievo Verona
Thu Mar 20 TBD Esbjerg/Fiorentina v Juventus/Trabzonspor - Europa League (Third Round)
Sun Mar 23 1:30 ET Napoli v Fiorentina
Sun Mar 26 10:00 ET Fiorentina v AC Milan
Sun Mar 30 9:00 ET Sampdoria v Fiorentina