Roma’s 2015 went from bad to worse, as a Mario Gomez brace gave Fiorentina victory in the Coppa Italia quarter-final.
The winners go on to face Juventus in the semi-finals, which will be played over two legs.
Roma’s 2015 went from bad to worse, as a Mario Gomez brace gave Fiorentina victory in the Coppa Italia quarter-final.
The winners go on to face Juventus in the semi-finals, which will be played over two legs.
The Giallorossi needed a boost after four consecutive Serie A stalemates saw them drop seven points behind the leaders, while the Viola lost the Coppa Final last year. Kevin Strootman, Juan Iturbe, Daniele De Rossi and Leandro Castan missed out for the hosts, but new buys Victor Ibarbo and Nicolas Spolli were on the bench. The visitors were without Alberto Aquilani, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Giuseppe Rossi and Federico Bernardeschi.
Alessandro Florenzi turned over from a smart Radja Nainggolan dinked pass, but Lukasz Skorupski made a hash of his clearance in the rain and Mario Gomez wasn’t alert enough to take advantage.
Adem Ljajic fired a promising counter wide and Ciprian Tatarusanu performed a decisive reaction save on Nainggolan’s fierce strike from a short clearance.
Paredes blasted over and Mario Gomez couldn’t keep his header down from a corner. Alessandro Diamanti drilled wide first time after the restart and Fiorentina seemed more audacious, which paid off.
On 65 minutes Manuel Pasqual burst down the left and his cross was flicked in by Mario Gomez at the near post, bouncing off the inside of the far stick from the tightest of angles.
Victor Ibarbo made his Roma debut and immediately got Stefan Savic’s studs in his chest, but the referee waved play on, while Josip Ilicic hit the bar with a terrible scuffed finish and saw his blushes spared by the offside flag.
Davide Astori nodded well over from a free kick, but Ashley Cole lost his footing under pressure and a chance went begging.
Fiorentina didn’t seem to be under a huge amount of pressure and in fact doubled their lead with Gomez again making the most of a Pasqual assist from the left, this time taking a good touch to turn in the box and blast under the bar.
Roma 0-2 Fiorentina
Scorers: Gomez 65, 89 (F)
Roma: Skorupski; Maicon (Verde 79), Manolas, Astori, Cole; Paredes (Pjanic 58), Keita, Nainggolan; Florenzi, Totti (Ibarbo 73), Ljajic
Fiorentina: Tatarusanu; Tomovic, Savic, Basanta; Joaquin, Pizarro, Badelj, Pasqual, Borja Valero (Mati Fernandez 79); Diamanti (Ilicic 70), Gomez (Babacar 90)
Ref: Damato
Image via @skysports