Pre-match
Paolo Vanoli brought Pietro Comuzzo, Mattia Viti, Niccolò Fortini, Hans Nicolussi Caviglia, Cher Ndour, Amir Richardson, and Edin Džeko into the lineup. Dynamo Kyiv boss Igor Kostyuk’s big change was benching star rightback Oleksandr Karavaev in favor of Oleksandr Tymchyk. Only about 7000 fans were on hand for this one, too: the early slot on a Thursday is tough to get excited for at the best of times, but especially for a team this bad. But hey, our guy Hesanka was presente.
First half
Dynamo Kyiv started better,
pinning Fiorentina back and winning a couple corners, but never looked too much like scoring. The hosts eventually figured some stuff out despite a midfield that misplaced simple passes as per usual, which meant the attacks mostly flowed down the wings. Dodô created a couple good chances for his forwards and Moise Kean blocked Džeko’s goal-bound volley off a corner then failed to turn it home, but the Moose made amends for that mistake by heading home a delectably lofted ball from Dodô.
That turned the match completely. Dynamo panicked a bit, throwing bodies forward in an effort to grab the equalizer, but the Fiorentina defense never looked anything but serene and repelled every attack. The upshot was that the Viola had acres of space to break into, often right through the middle, and had a succession of half-chances and decent opportunities to double the lead. When the halftime whistle went, it’s safe to say that the sparse crowd had witnessed their team’s most coherent 45 minutes under Vanoli; David de Gea hadn’t been called into action and the Viola were tangibly in control.
Second half
Fiorentina dropped off a bit in the second half but still looked the better side, although the visitors eventually registered their first shot on target, which de Gea handled easily. As it happened, though, that was the warning. Moments later Mykola Mykhaylenko smashed home a piledriver that took the air right out of the Franchi. Hell of a strike and not much de Gea could do but damn, man.
The Viola nearly responded immediately as Richardson’s cross almost deflected home and Kean missed a great chance from the ensuing corner, then Džeko and Ndour both missed headers as well. The visitors didn’t repeat their mistake and kept it tight, restricting space on the break. It was starting to feel like It was happening again despite Vanoli moving to a 4-4-2, and It happened even harder when Fabiano Parisi played a perfect cross for Kean with 15 minutes to go and Nescheret made a flailing, unintentional kick save, but the ball bounced right to Albert Guðmundsson, who tucked it home.
Dynamo Kyiv threw numbers forward, as you’d expect, but didn’t create all that much danger as the defense continued to hold firm. Indeed, it was Kean who wasted another marvelous ball across from Parisi, failing to put the result beyond a doubt, but in the end it wouldn’t matter as the Viola succeeded in hanging on for their first win since 23 October against Rapid Vienna.
Full time
Goals: Kean 18’ (ass. Dodô), Guðmundsson 74’; 55’ Mykhaylenko (ass. Pikhalyonok)
Cards: Ndour 43’, Guðmundsson 83’, Kouadio 90’+3; Dubinchak 52’, Thiaré 85’, Vivcharenko 90’
What’s next
My goodness does it feel good to have a Fiorentina win to write about here. The result launches the guys back into 7th place in the Conference League standings, although they’ll drop back out of the top 8 as the late games are played. Still, they’ve given themselves a chance to avoid the playoff, although they’ll need to beat Lausanne next Thursday to have a chance; Ndour will be suspended for that one, by the way, due to yellow card accumulation. Otherwise, they’ll get an extra round of games squeezed in between the Parma and Cremonese games in March.
The good news is that Fiorentina finally handed Vanoli his first win and it only took a month. Seeing Kean and Guðmundsson score is definitely positive, and the change in shape could herald a new path forward. I’m not drawing too many conclusions yet, though, as this felt like more an issue of talent imbalance than competent strategy; Dynamo Kyiv lacks anyone who can consistently win duels in the final third. We’ll find out how real this is in Sunday’s 6-pointer against 19th place Hellas Verona. Expect a desperate atmosphere despite the gemellagio, especially because the Mastini got their first win last week, leaving Fiorentina the only winless side in Serie A.
Okay, yeah, that killed the positivity. My bad.
