Hellas Verona vs Fiorentina: Serie A 2020-2021

After earning just a point from their previous 4 matches, including a complete collapse against Sassuolo days earlier, Fiorentina desperately needed some sort of result against Hellas Verona. The Mastini, for their part, had lost 6 of their last 7 and faced accusations of losing interest, having already reached the safety of the fabled 40-point plateau; given the gemellaggio between the two, it seemed fair to say that the hosts weren’t going to be as desperate for a win as you might expect.

Both teams came into this one missing some key personnel: Nikola Milenković was suspended for the visitors, while the former Viola duo of Federico Ceccherini and Marco Benassi were injured and Nikola Kalinić was only fit enough for the bench. With Rocco Commisso in attendance, it seemed likely to be another scrappy game for the visitors.

Despite being dominated for the opening period and having only Bartłomiej Drągowski’s brilliance to thank for keeping it even, Dušan Vlahović confidently slotted home a penalty just before the break after Antonin Barak bundled Giacomo Bonaventura over in the area. After halftime, Fiorentina looked a bit better and made their improvement count with Martín Cáceres lashing home after a free kick. Despite a defensive mixup which saw Eddie Salcedo given a free header at the back post to halve the deficit, the Viola hung on reasonably comfortably.

When the dust settled from the midweek match, Fiorentina had wound up in 13th place with a 5-point lead over Cagliari in the final relegation spot. More importantly, it felt like now, perhaps, the Viola had a bit of breathing room, especially with some tough fixtures looming.