Fiorentina 2-1 Real Madrid: Fourth Pre-Season Trophy

Giuseppe Rossi was not able to start the last friendly before the team heads to Roma for the first Serie A clash due to a "tightening in the thighs". The fourth minute Real Madrid counter attack by Di Maria and the goal finish by Ronaldo brought back a feeling pretty much all Fiorentina fans are used to. Even when it is Di Maria & Ronaldo, the counterattack was not as dangerous as it looked. The middle and the attack could not look any better or confident as they pushed a few mistake on the Spanish back line. The mistakes lead Aquilani to cross a short high pass to Gomez who put it past Costa Rica rising star Navas. Shortly after, Aquilani continued his 1 in 10 matches good form with a give and take using Pizarro. Aquilani's finish was inches off as the ball struck the goal's top bar. Babacar topped his first half above average performance with a solo dribble and long shot but was well over the bar.

Minutes into the second half and Marcos Alonso managed to score his first goal with Fiorentina against non other than Real Madrid. The goal was mostly due to goofy defending on the Spanish side that gave Alonso an easy angle to strike the net and take the lead. The second half witnessed a few dangerous shots on goal from both teams most notably the 72nd Vargas strike that Navas was able to block and then secure in world class manner. Di Maria also missed the goal by inches on an attack that i assume Real Madrid fans will not forgive if this was not a friendly match. All in all, a friendly match with no injuries to both sides is a good match and as long as Gomez is scoring just put a Summer Melon in your belly and relax.

For the match line-ups thread click HERE

Other players who got playing minutes were:

Ilicic, Brilliante, Wolski, Pizzini, Benardeschi, Lazzari, Hegazy, Pasqual, (Might have missed a few)

Two weeks to go before Fiorentina travel to Roma to go head to head against my personal Serie A favorites this season. The showing against Madrid is only positive and it wrapped a great pre-season where the team still has two whole weeks to get those small mistakes patched up. If ADV is a man of his word and he has proven to be, Three days remain before Cuadrado's Saga comes to an end and the same time will reveal if any certain Brazilian midfielders are joining the Purple dream.