Fiorentina paid no price for rotating the squad, as Gaetano Castrovilli, Dodo, Alfred Duncan and Aleksa Terzic scored their first goals of the season against doomed Sampdoria.
The Viola had booked their place in the Coppa Italia Final and Conference League semi-final, but were still trying to push into the European places in Serie A. Giacomo Bonaventura and Salvatore Sirigu missed out along with mass squad rotation, while rock bottom Samp had Emil Audero, Bram Nuytinck, Ignacio Pussetto, Mario Yepes and Andrea Conti out, welcoming back Abdelhamid Sabiri from suspension.
Sam Lammers fired over from a promising position, while Medhi Leris stung goalkeeper Michele Cerofolini’s gloves at the near post.
Tommaso Augello also got down the left and tested Cerofolini, who needed help from Cristiano Biraghi to clear the rebound off the line.
Leris went off with a shoulder injury and Alfred Duncan fired wide from the edge of the area, with Gaetano Castrovilli’s control and half-volley straight at the goalkeeper.
Nico Gonzalez curled past the far top corner and Nicola Ravaglia made a sensational reaction save on the deflected Castrovilli effort from 10 yards.
Fiorentina finally broke through in first half stoppages when a corner was taken short and Cristiano Biraghi floated a ball to just inside the area, where Castrovilli watched it come down and kept the right-foot volley low into the far bottom corner. It was his first Serie A goal since December 2021.
The Viola doubled their advantage with the first goal for the club from Dodo, who got to celebrate his new purple hairstyle. Luca Ranieri rolled across from the left for Jovic, who was blocked off from the tap-in, but managed to pull it back enough for Dodo to blast in with the aid of a deflection.
Moments later, Jovic provided another assist, this time for Alfred Duncan to cut inside and again shoot with a deflection into the top corner from 12 yards.
Sampdoria were visibly deflated and Christian Kouame made it 4-0 with an angled drive, sent clear by Sofyan Amrabat’s slide-rule pass.
Aleksa Terzic made it five off the bench, running onto the loose ball as Jovic tried to turn – still making it a hat-trick of assists – to turn in from close range.
The referee took pity on Samp and blew the final whistle without any injury time.
Fiorentina 5-0 Sampdoria
Castrovilli 45 (F), Dodo 62 (F), Duncan 66 (F), Kouame 76 (F), Terzic 89 (F)
Player statistic
| Gaetano Castrovilli |  |
45+2' |
| 60' |  |
Jeison Murillo | ||
| Dodô | |
62' | ||
| Alfred Duncan (Assist: Luka Jovic) |
|
66' | ||
| Christian Kouamé | |
76' | ||
| Christian Kouamé | |
81' | ||
| Aleksa Terzic (Assist: Luka Jovic) |
|
88' | ||
| Aleksa Terzic | |
89' |
Match statistic
