Fiorentina tried to bounce back from a wild ride against Parma that ended with a 3-3 draw full of outrageously sloppy goals and an own-goal at the death to pull themselves even. They headed south to Campania and Benevento in an attempt to do so; with the Stregoni struggling mightily as well, this felt like a crucial 6 points in what’s shaping up to be a fairly tense battle to avoid the final relegation spot.
The Viola, of course, were still carrying several critical absences: Gaetano Castrovilli wasn’t fully fit, and Igor is on the shelf indefinitely. Sofyan Amrabat seems to have fallen into Cesare Prandelli’s doghouse as well, and Aleksandr Kokorin will probably never be all the way healthy. Benevento boss Filippo Inzaghi also had some absences to coach around, especially at the back, but had a few aces up his sleeve as well.
It wound up being an enjoyable evening for the visitors, highlighted by Dušan Vlahović’s first hat trick as a professional, but there were still a lot of cracks that the final scoreline didn’t quite manage to paper over; San Cesare will definitely have a lot to think about ahead of a clash with AC Milan.
For now, relive a pleasant fixture with our usual coverage: preview, match thread, highlights, player grades, and analysis.