Pre-match

Giuseppe Iachini picked Gaetano Castrovilli over Sofyan Amrabat, but the real talking point was at the back, where Nikola Milenković and Martín Cáceres switched sides. Simone Inzaghi picked his expected XI.

First half

Some nice work from Gaetano Castrovilli put Cristiano Biraghi through, and the fullback just had to square it across goal for (who else?) Dušan Vlahović to tap home. It was excellent movement by the big striker, but Lazio’s defense was very bad as well.

Second half

Who else but Vlahović would put it beyond reach? It was a towering header from an Erick Pulgar corner that the Serbian international directed down and past Pepe Reina; if he’s going to start scoring headers off high crosses, he’s pretty well evolved into his next form.

Full time

Goals: Vlahović 32’ (ass. Biraghi) 89’ (ass. Pulgar)

Cards: Venuti 5’, Vlahović 43’, Pezzella 58’, Cáceres 90’+2; Acerbi 28’, Leiva 49’, Radu 66’, Luiz Felipe 74’, Pereira 77’ 90’+5 (sent off), Cataldi 90’, Akpa Akpro 90’+7

What’s next

First of all, let’s talk about Dušan. He became just the 4th foreign player to score 20 goals for Fiorentina (Pedro Petrone, Kurt Hamrin, and Gabriel Batistuta) and the club’s first 20-goal scorer in Serie A since Uncle Luca Toni in 2005-2006. He’s special.

Anyways, the win pushes the Viola to 13th, pending Genoa’s result against Sassuolo tomorrow. More importantly, this puts the Viola on 38 points. That’s 7 more than Benevento and 6 more than Cagliari, who are 16th and 17th (and play each other tomorrow). While safety isn’t quite mathematically assured yet, it’s done. Fiorentina survive.