Pre-match
Paolo Vanoli made it very clear that he doesn’t particularly care about the Coppa Italia. Oliver Christensen, Luca Ranieri, Niccolò Fortini, Jacopo Fazzini, and Jack Harrison all started. 19-year-old leftback
Luis Balbo made his senior debut as well, which was a massive surprise. Marco Brescianini and Giovanni Fabbian also made their first Viola starts. Cesc Fabregas trotted out a pretty strong lineup, although Nico Paz was on the bench.
It was pretty emotional off the pitch, too. The late Rocco Commisso’s family—wife Catherine and son Giuseppe, who’s just been announced as Fiorentina’s new president—were in attendance, and club captain David de Gea joined them in the stands to place a bouquet in Rocco’s vacant seat.
First half
Fiorentina started off brightly despite the bonkers lineup, pushing high and leaving Como disjointed. It got even better when Roberto Piccoli got body-snatched by a €25 million striker and brilliantly finished Fabbian’s teasing cross. It’s easy to ask, “Where’s that been?” We didn’t get an answer, of course, but at least we got a goal.
To my astonishment, the Viola didn’t immediately let off and even created a couple of decent opportunities on the break before their old nemesis reared its head. Was it a corner? Was there poor marking? A free header for a Como centerback? A hilarious scramble that featured the ball rolling over a prone body’s back? The simplest of tap-ins? C’mon, you know the answer. You’ve known it since before you were born, in the same way that animals are born knowing their own mortality.
Fiorentina again played against type after conceding. Instead of folding up like a newspaper, the players put their noses to the grindstone and got to work. Como didn’t want to commit too many bodies forward, respecting the hosts’ threat on the counter. Even so, the Viola had a couple of decent moments in transition, although the final ball was sadly lacking; Fazzini and Harrison were the guiltiest parties but nobody seemed to have a solution at the top of the pitch.
Second half
Fiorentina continued to impress, particularly without the ball, but there wasn’t much threat in the final third. The game remained chippy but favored Como, who forced a couple saves out of Christensen. The Dane could’ve done a shade better, perhaps, when the visitors took the lead at the hour mark, but Fortini’s poor clearance will take the majority of the blame, giving Nico Paz plenty of time to smash the ball home.
The Viola focus wavered and Como nearly added another right away but couldn’t capitalize on a 3-v-2 break or pounce on Christensen’s punch straight into the middle of the box. Piccoli got a 1-v-1 after a lovely ball from Fabbian but his touch once again let him down. Vanoli brought on his big guns (really mid-sized guns) in Nicolò Fagioli, Robin Gosens, Manor Solomon, but the Viola never looked like breaking through. Indeed, as they hurled more and more bodies forward, they inevitably got done on the break. It was Álvaro Morata who applied the finishing touch but it doesn’t really matter who it was. It was about as Chronicle of a Goal Foretold as I can imagine.
Full time
Goals: Piccoli 7’ (ass. Fabbian); Sergi Roberto 20’, Paz 60’, Morata 90’ (ass. Kühn)
Cards: Brescianini 33’, Comuzzo 80’; van der Brempt 38’, Diego Carlos 59’, Paz 77’, Kühn 81’, Morata 90’+4
What we learned
-Fazzini and Harrison failed to connect with their teammates at all. The former’s returning from a lengthy spell on the sidelines so can blame rust, although he’s always been a head-down dribbler. The latter didn’t seem to have any sort of on-field relationship with his teammates and may not speak any Italian yet. They killed a lot of promising moves.
-Balbo, on the other hand, was feisty as hell, never backing down and demonstrating a bit of needle. Fiorentina is suddenly Italy’s best fullback factory. Wacky.
-Give Vanoli credit for his coaching job here. He schemed an excellent defense with his backups that caused Como a ton of issues; I was really impressed with the disciplined rotations that frustrated the Lariani immensely. The result is more down to a talent deficit than the mister’s shortcomings.
-I liked this midfield a lot. Ndour was great out of possession but replacing him with Fagioli would add a lot of fluency going forward. Brescianini adds muscle and deep runs over the top that clearly trouble opposing defenses. Fabbian’s more of a moments guy than an exerting control guy but he’s got some quality in him.
What’s next
The Coppa Italia campaign ends with a whimper, but that’s no surprise. Fiorentina was never going to get past Napoli in the next round so might as well dip out here and conserve energy for Serie A. With the Partenopei waiting on Sunday (and looking pretty low on gas themselves of late), the Viola can maybe sneak a point at the Maradona this weekend, although they’ll probably get clapped 5-0 or something instead. It’s just that kind of year.
But hey, Fiorentina’s still in the Conference League, so the dream of a trophy and relegation in the same year remains alive.
