Pre-match

Despite speculation that he’d drop Luis Alberto again, Maurizio Sarri stuck with the Spanish playmaker. Vincenzo Italiano introduced Riccardo Sottil to replace Nicolás González (coronavirus), while Gaetano Castrovilli returned to the starting lineup for the first time in nearly a month. It’s also worth mentioning that, during the warmup, a group of Lazio fans did their usual racisms against Alfred Duncan. Naturally, there were no repercussions.

First half

For pretty much anyone outside of Italy, it was nearly impossible to watch as the stream cut out for about half an hour. From what I can glean, that was for the best, as there wasn’t really any action of note; the hosts managed 4 shots to 3 for the visitors, with each managing just a single effort on target.

Second half

Full credit to Lazio for this tremendous goal, but Fiorentina’s midfield was completely lost here. If you know that Sergej Milenković-Savić is going to serve as a target on long balls, you have to account for his flick-ons, and the Viola didn’t, allowing Ciro Immobile to pick it up and find Pedro, who slammed it home.

Without González, Fiorentina clearly lacked dynamism and never really threatened Pepe Reina’s goal; they didn’t even register a shot on frame in the second half as Lazio pretty well dropped back to keep the ball and gave up on trying to attack. It was a grim reminder of how thin this Viola squad is, given that there wasn’t a senior forward to bring in off the bench.

Full time

Goals: Pedro 52’ (ass. Immobile)

Cards: Cataldi 56’, Luis Alberto 78’, Immobile 81’; Castrovilli 24’, Biraghi 47’, Duncan 68’

What’s next

Fiorentina return home to take on 17th place Spezia on Sunday in what could be a rancorous encounter, given the nature of Italiano’s move this summer. He’ll need to lead his new team to a win in that one because the next two outings are against Juventus and AC Milan. On the plus side, the Viola are still in 8th with 15 points (even with the Notts County cosplayers), so they’re still in the mix for Europe at this early stage.