Fiorentina 3-3 Inter Milan: Highlights

Pre-match

Both Federico Ceccherini and Vincent Laurini started at the back for Fiorentina as Nikola Milenković dealt with a bad case of the flu. Up top, Stefano Pioli chose Giovanni Simeone over Luis Muriel.

Luciano Spalletti brought out more or less his expected XI with Matías Vecino in midfield and Borja Valero on the bench. Due to Mauro Icardi’s ongoing feud with Inter Milan, Lautaro Martínez started at striker again.

First half

The first goal came after just 16 seconds. Ceccherini hammered a long ball over the top of the defense and Federico Chiesa outran everyone to it. Seeing Samir Handanović out in no man’s land, Fede squared it to Giovanni Simeone. The Argentine’s shot took a touch off Stevan de Vrij and nestled into the back of the net; while Cholito originally claimed it, the scorers would eventually mark it as an own goal.

5 minutes later, it was, of course, Vecino who equalized. After the Viola failed to clear a corner, Radja Nainggolan swept it back into the box, where the Uruguayan pounced, volleying past Alban Lafont, who got two hands to the ball but couldn’t keep it out. It was very tight with regards to offsides, but after several minutes to check, the referee allowed it.

Chiesa got some measure of revenge at 26’ with this outrageous piece of skill to nutmeg Vecino and leave him in the land of dry whispers.

Inter got the last laugh of the half, though, as Matteo Politano cut inside from the left past Jordan Veretout (who should have known that the Italian lite version of Arjen Robben would do precisely that) and uncorked a belter. Lafont again got a fingertip to it and was a bit slow to react, although Gerson may have blocked his view of the incoming shot.

Second half

At 52’, Edimilson Fernandes caught an Inter free kick with his arm in the area. Despite the fact that he was jumping, the ball took a deflection to get to him, and that he was clearly being jostled, Rosario Abisso called for the spot kick (after waiting 5 minutes and blowing the whistle as Chiesa broke forward on the counter). Ivan Perišić duly slotted it past Lafont.

At the hour mark, Chiesa swung a cross into substitute Luis Muriel in the area, who miskicked the ball and caught Danilo d’Ambrosio. The ball itself, however, squirted back out to Cristiano Biraghi, and the fullback’s volley from the edge of the area was a dang missile that nearly ripped the back of the net off. However, Abisso decided to rule the goal out due to Muriel’s clash with d’Ambrosio right before, much to the disgust of the home fans.

VAR couldn’t do anything to remove Muriel’s 74th minute free kick, though. The Colombian hit the ball as perfectly as you’ll ever see in your lifetime: pace, power, dip, and a kiss off the underside of the bar. Not often is a goalkeeper of Handanović’s quality helpless against a shot from 30+ yards out, but he didn’t stand a chance.

Deep into the 7 minutes of stoppage time, Chiesa dinked a cross from the left into Danilo d’Ambrosio. At first blush, it looked harmless enough. Abisso, however, pointed to the spot immediately, and even after consulting VAR kept the penalty on. The decision was harsh, in fairness: the ball barely touched the Inter man’s arm after hitting his chest and he was too close to move out of the way, but if felt like a makeup call for the Biraghi goal that had been disallowed (or maybe the penalty for a similarly nothingburger handball on Vitor Hugo last time these teams met). Jordan Veretout stepped up and kept his 100% record from the spot intact, tying the match at 3-3.

Full time

Goals: de Vrij OG 1’, Vecino 6’ (ass. Nainggolan), Politano 40’ (ass. d’Ambrosio), Perišić pen. 52’, Muriel 74’, Veretout pen. 90’+10

Cards: Nainggolan 57’, Škriniar 64’, Politano 71’, Lafont 87’, Brozović 89’