Pre-match

Paulo Fonseca picked ex-Viola players Gianluca Mancini and Jordan Veretout, but there weren’t any real surprises in the lineup. Cesare Prandelli brought back Sofyan Amrabat and opted for Igor at left wingback over Cristiano Biraghi.

First half

On the day before the third anniversary of his death, Fiorentina and AS Roma both stopped play at the thirteenth minute to applaud Davide Astori, who played for both teams.

Other than that, it was mostly a brawl more than an actual game.

Second half

Leonardo Spinazzola, who’d been erased in the first half, popped across to the other side and hit a lovely volley at the front post to turn home a deep cross from Gianluca Mancini (who was maybe lucky not to have been sent off for elbowing Franck Ribery square in the head). It was a great finish but it’s fair to wonder what Nikola Milenković was doing.

Spinazzola giveth and Spinazzola taketh away, it seems. The wingback did quite poorly to turn a Cristiano Biraghi cross into his own net. AS Roma fans will probably be a bit upset as Jordan Veretout had pulled up with a hamstring injury as Fiorentina broke forward, but the goal stood.

Because this is Fiorentina, of course they coughed it up at the end. Rick Karsdorp was given way too much time and space to fizz in a low cross and Amadou Diawara knifed through the defense completely unmarked to tap it home.

Full time

Goals: Spinazzola OG 60’; Spinazzola 48’ (ass. Mancini), Diawara 88’ (ass. Karsdorp)

Cards: Ribery 71’; Mancini 40’, Kumbulla 74’

What’s next

Fiorentina somehow stay 14th on 25 points but Sunday’s clash against Parma feels a lot dicier now with Ribery suspended for yellow card accumulation (he got a really dumb one late in the second half) and both Gaetano Castrovilli (hamstring) and Igor (ankle) looking doubtful. That’s going to be a very unpleasant watch. Roma, meanwhile, jump into 5th place with 47 points, although Napoli are just 2 back with a game in hand.