After building up some momentum through Paolo Vanoli’s first 3 games, Fiorentina’s descended to earth with a bump following the international break. Fortunately, this next game is a nice, simple trip to the current top team in Serie A. Yep, it’s time to take on Inter Milan and I suggest you scrub up, because it’s probably going to be a Dexter-level bloodbath. Perhaps you think that the Nerazzurri are tired from a taxing tie against Ukraine’s finest at the midweek and are carrying a few key absences;
I would counter that the Viola are cheeks through and through.
The match will be played on Sunday, 25 October 2026, at 11:30 GMT/6:30 AM EST at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan. The forecast calls for a cloudy afternoon but the rain should hold off, giving us pretty fine autumn conditions for some calcio. And hey, enjoy the San Siro while you can: the plan is to have the replacement ready by 2031 so these trips to one of the cathedrals of the game are limited. And haha what no of course that construction won’t be delayed indefinitely for a variety of inexplicably opaque bureaucratic reasons. What could possibly put such a thought in your head?
Three things to watch for
1. Moral victory
Look, man. We’ve known each other for a long time. We can be honest. Fiorentina is not going to win this game. Fiorentina is, in fact, probably going to lose this game. Possibly by a large margin. Inter Milan has dominated Serie A for the past few years, during which Fiorentina has been hanging onto its top flight status with its fingernails. Everyone can say what they want about how this is a potential trap game for the Nerazzurri and all that stuff but we know. We know that Fiorentina is ass and that ass doesn’t win.
With the scoreline all but decided, what I’m looking for is progress in the margins. Inter will slice through this defense and create a bunch of good chances. Fiorentina will respond by occasionally and feebly headbutting a blue and black wall. In games like this, I want evidence of growth. That could mean better positional relationships in the midfield. It could mean seeing the forwards connect better. It could mean seeing the defenders go 90 minutes without shitting themselves even if they concede some goals. In short, I want to see the Viola play hard, stick to some sort of plan, and not give up. The bar is that low.
2. Tracking runners from deep
In the modern tactical world, perhaps the most powerful weapon in the game is a midfielder who can burst into space over the top. If you’ve ever played the game, you know that tracking those deep runs is both physically and mentally taxing, forcing the defending team to either drop its own midfielders into the back line or communicate really well. Inter’s entire team is built around getting those runners into dangerous spots and playing off the strikers.
Playing away from home, Fiorentina will sit very deep and try to minimize space between the lines. Cher Ndour will make fewer runs over the top and instead help protect the defense. This could be the time to try Fagioulaï again, as Christ’s athleticism will help counteract the Inter midfield’s exquisite off-ball movement. That’s obviously a risk, given how bad the Fagioli-Oulaï combination looked against Genoa. Maybe this is the time to dust off Marco Brescianini. Regardless of personnel, though, this one’s going to hinge on tracking the Nerazzurri midfielders as they inevitably break forward. Do that well enough and the scoreline should be, at bare minimum, respectable.
3. Take your damn chances
To steal a truism from the NBA, it’s a make-or-miss league and the Viola are underperforming their xG as badly as anyone in the league outside poor old Venezia. Fiorentina had chances against Everybody’s New Darlings Como. Had Alieu Njie or Fagioli or Franco Mastantuono taken one of the early ones, that game might’ve shaken out differently (probably not based on relative quality). If you want a blanket, you can wrap yourself in the belief that, outside of the Roma game, Fiorentina’s carved out chances. They’ve just fallen to the wrong players.
Who are the right players, though? Nobody on the roster’s ever been a prolific scorer. Nobody has that indefinable set of characteristics that we shorthand as “good finisher.” A lot of it is luck, of course. If Mateo Pellegrino or Beto or Njie or Mastantuono suddenly gets hot for a few games in a row, all the talk about tactics and structure and underlying numbers will evaporate. A couple of those guys will hit good patches at some point because that’s how a season works. What Vanoli needs right now, though, is for a couple of lucky breaks and there’s no way he can coach that.
Possible lineups
Share My Tactics" data-portal-copyright="Made using Share My Tactics" />
Ted’s Memorial Blind Guess Department
The bookies have Inter Milan as massive favorites for all the obvious reasons. Sure, the hosts had a tough battle against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday but this is a deep squad and one accustomed to regular rotation. I’d argue that the real banana skin is Venezia on Wednesday, as it’s an away game ahead of the Derby della Madonnina next week. Fiorentina is probably more of a speed bump than anything else, one that can hope to slow the Nerazzurri down a bit rather than halt their progress.
And that’s exactly why the visitors will steal a win here. The way this one will play out—Inter in control and breaking forward in wave upon wave—means there will be space for the Viola to attack and, for the first time this year, Njie will take advantage and finish off a counterattack in the first half. Stunned, Inter will regroup at halftime and redouble its efforts, eventually finding a reward via Francesco Pio Esposito’s noggin as he beats Marin Pongračić to a cross. As the hosts chase the winner, though, it’ll be uh I don’t know why not Dodô maybe who zips the other way and buries a late winner. And yeah, I’m really pushing this bit.
Forza Viola!
