Lucas Beltran finally broke his Fiorentina duck with a splendid brace in this 6-0 demolition of 10-man Cukaricki, including Jonathan Ikone and Riccardo Sottil scorchers.
The Viola badly needed a boost after a pair of 2-2 draws against KRC Genk and Ferencvaros, while they suffered a shock 2-0 home defeat to Empoli on Monday in Serie A. Giacomo Bonaventura and Cristiano Biraghi joined Yerry Mina, Dodo and Gaetano Castrovilli on the absentee list, with Nico Gonzalez only fit for the bench.
There was controversy early on, as Michael Kayode was hacked down from behind and seemed to sprain his knee, but the referee did not even award a free kick.
While he was off the field getting treatment, 10-man Fiorentina took the lead, as a long ball over the top found Beltran, who shrugged off one defender, cut inside another and placed the finish into the far bottom corner with his right foot. It was the Argentine’s first goal in the Viola jersey.
It was very quickly followed by the second, as a long Lucas Martinez-Quarta free kick floated over the top for a sensational, delicate Beltran volley to flick it over the goalkeeper caught off his line.
He almost made it a hat-trick on 22 minutes, but the right-foot strike smashed against the crossbar from a tricky angle.
An acrobatic save denied Antonin Barak’s ferocious strike at the near post, before Jonathan Ikone shrugged off two defenders to hit a screamer in off the underside of the crossbar from the edge of the area.
Lukas Subotic was originally only shown a yellow card for his late and high lunge from behind on Beltran, but it was changed to a straight red after the VAR on-field review.
Rolando Mandragora couldn’t control the Ikone pass to the back post, while Barak’s strike was beaten away by the goalkeeper.
Riccardo Sottil came off the bench and made it 4-0 with a splendid free kick curled into the near top corner with his right boot.
M’Bala Nzola wasted a couple of opportunities to further enhance the scoreline, but Martinez Quarta did when getting his toe to a Sottil low cross that had gone straight past Ndiaye’s attempted clearance.
Maxime Lopez also added his first goal in the Viola jersey, a wonderful right-foot curler into the far top corner from outside the penalty area.
This is not the only good news for Fiorentina, because Genk and Ferencvaros drew 0-0, meaning all three teams are level on five points.
Fiorentina 6-0 Cukaricki
Beltran 6, 10 (F), Ikone 29 (F), Sottil 65 (F), Martinez Quarta 73 (F), Maxime Lopez 83 (F)
Sent off: Subotic 38 (C)
Player statistic
| Lucas Beltrán (Assist: Luca Ranieri) |
 |
6' | ||
| 6' |  |
Ognjen Vranjes | ||
| 9' | |
Marko Docic | ||
| Lucas Beltrán (Assist: Lucas Martínez Quarta) |
|
10' | ||
| Jonathan Ikoné (Assist: Rolando Mandragora) |
|
29' | ||
| 38' |  |
Luka Subotic |
| Riccardo Sottil | |
65' | ||
| Lucas Martínez Quarta (Assist: Riccardo Sottil) |
|
73' | ||
| Maxime Lopez (Assist: Gino Infantino) |
|
83' |
Match statistic
