Serie A | Fiorentina 2-2 Udinese: Viola thriller

Fiorentina came back twice to grab a point against Udinese and keep hold of fourth place, despite Sandi Lovric’s goal and assist.

The Viola were still solidly in fourth place despite defeat to Sassuolo, also reaching the Coppa Italia semi-final, Conference League last 16 and preparing for next week’s Supercoppa Italiana Final Four. Nico Gonzalez, Gaetano Castrovilli and Dodo were injured, with Christian Kouame at the Africa Cup of Nations. The visitors missed Jaka Bijol, Enzo Ebosse, Gerard Deulofeu, Brenner, Vivaldo Semedo and Simone Pafundi.

Udinese took the lead against the run of play with a classic counter-attack, as Lorenzo Lucca threaded through to send Sandi Lovric sprinting forward, keeping his cool to place the angled drive into the far bottom corner.

Lucca almost had a second when Lucas Martinez-Quarta was sold a dummy on the through ball, but fired straight at Pietro Terracciano.

Roberto Pereyra also tested the goalkeeper at the near post, while Terracciano flew for a one-handed save on the Lazar Samardzic free kick.

The goalkeeper was also tested on the resulting corner kick, as Samardzic tried to curl in directly from the flag.

When Fiorentina did manage to get into scoring positions, they were undone by a shocking Jonathan Ikone miss from 10 yards.

Marco Davide Faraoni completed his loan move from Verona only yesterday and was given his debut in the second half, immediately making an important block on Pereyra in the box.

Nobody was ready to meet the Ikone pull-back from the by-line, while Rolando Mandragora’s snapshot was smothered.

The pressure was growing and Faraoni provided a great assist on his debut, whipping in a cross from the right for the Lucas Beltran glancing header into the far bottom corner.

Udinese almost restored their lead on 64 minutes when Terracciano fumbled a Florian Thauvin free kick onto the upright and was grateful to see it bounce back into his arms.

The Friulani did go in front again, as Lovric was once more involved running down the right to pull back from the by-line for Thauvin to sweep home relatively undisturbed from 13 yards. It was the Frenchman’s first goal since November 2023.

Fiorentina received a penalty when Joao Ferreira had his arm high and wide to charge down a Beltran shot from the edge of the box. M’Bala Nzola converted into the bottom corner for the late equaliser. The striker had not found the net in 12 games.

It was still not over, as Jack Bonaventura’s long-range scorcher was denied only by the base of the upright in stoppages.

Fiorentina 2-2 Udinese

Lovric 10 (U), Beltran 56 (F), Thauvin 73 (U), Nzola pen 87 (F)