Milan 2-0;

Apart from some early botched chances by Alessandro Matri, Fiorentina never looked dangerous and Milan coasted to a 2-0 victory in Florence, yesterday.

Already missing David Pizarro and Mario Gomez, Fiorentina was forced into another change as Manuel Pasqual strained a thigh and had to be replaced by Facundo Roncaglia and la Viola were left scrambling as AC Milan got a free kick and Mario Balotelli got a shot on goal and Neto could not control a rebound and Mexes put it away.

Balotelli would score off another free kick later, but the match was already over at that point as Fiorentina were unable to get any kind of energy flow of play going for long stretches of the match.

Roster

Neto() -

Tomovic() -
Rodriguez() -
Savic() -
Pasqual() -

Fernandez() -
Ambrosini() -
Valero() -

Joaquin() -
Matri() -
Cuadrado() -

Subs
Roncaglia for Pasqual() -
Wolski for Tomovic() -
Matos for Joaquin() -

Montella() -

Going to give every one a pass just for plain old weariness, but feel free to rate the players yourself, if you wish.

Quotes

Montella:

"With a little more intelligence and smarts, we could’ve avoided defeat. I told my players not to go into the defensive wall if they were afraid of getting a ball in the face. I’ll need a word with them."

Hi Lights

<script height="438px" width="780px" src="http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#ec=JrZWplbDqoslJpM2op7YZouZh1wqOUQ9&pbid=MTBkNTgwODMzMTExYmQ5YThkM2Q4N2Qx"></script>

Serie A Goals

(* indicates a goal in this match)

Rossi (14)
Cuadrado (5)
Valero (5)
Aquilani (4) 
Vargas (4)                      
Fernandez (3) 
Gomez (3)
Matri (3)
Ilicic (2) 
Joaquin (2)
Rodriguez (2)
Pizarro (1)                
Wolski (1)

Yellow Card Accumulation

(Disqualification of one game after the 4th, 8th, 12th, 15th and the 17th yellow card. Past 17, every yellow card is equivalent to a one-match ban. (Players receiving yellow cards in this match have an *, red cards #)

Rodriguez (12) * - misses next match
Aquilani (7)
Cuadrado (6) 
Ambrosini (6)  *
Pizarro (4) 
Tomovic(4) 
Valero (4) 
Compper(3)  - misses match on next yellow 
Pasqual (3)    - misses match on next yellow  
Savic (3)    - misses match on next yellow  
Diakite (2) 
Matos(2)                                            
Neto (2)  
Fernandez (1)
Gomez (1) 
Ilicic (1)
Matri (1)
Rebic (1)
Roncaglia (1) *
Rossi (1)
Wolski (1)

Looking Ahead

There are still 24 points out there to get and all of the upcoming matches are winnable, and Fiorentina should be considered favorites in most of them, except perhaps, against Roma.

That being said, 9th place Sampdoria are no picnic. Rossi got a brace in the first 20 min or so and the team held on in the first match up, letting in a goal with 16 minutes to go. Samp had the chance at evening the match, but let two chances go wide and another over the bar going down the stretch.
Sampdoria have only lost once at home since last November, also a 2-0 loss to AC Milan and are on a a two game win string, 2-1 at Sassuolo yesterday and a 5-0 home drubbing of Verona on the weekend.


Sun Mar 30 9:00 ET Sampdoria v Fiorentina
Sun Apr 6 9:00 ET Fiorentina v Udinese
Sun Apr 13 9:00 ET Hellas Verona v Fiorentina
Sat Apr 19 9:00 ET Fiorentina v AS Roma
Sun Apr 27 9:00 ET Bologna v Fiorentina
Sat May 3 2:45 ET Fiorentina v Napoli - Coppa Italia (Final)
Tue May 6 1:00 ET Fiorentina v Sassuolo
Sun May 11 9:00 ET Livorno v Fiorentina
Sun May 18 9:00 ET Fiorentina v Torino
End Of Season