UECL | Fiorentina 3-2 Club Brugge: Viola thriller

Fiorentina made it difficult, but beat 10-man Club Brugge 3-2 with Riccardo Sottil, Andrea Belotti and M’Bala Nzola goals in the first leg of the Conference League semi-final.

The second leg will be on Wednesday May 8 in Belgium. The Viola were unbeaten in the tournament so far and had to focus on this after being knocked out of the Coppa Italia semi-final by Atalanta.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Brugge won their last seven consecutive matches and had a brave start, Igor Thiago blasting over from distance in the opening minute, but it was the hosts who took the lead under heavy rain.

Riccardo Sottil cut inside from the left and bent a right-foot curler into the far top corner from the edge of the area, just days after scoring a similar move against Sassuolo in Serie A.

What a strike from Riccardo Sottil! 🎯

Fiorentina with an early advantage in their #UECL semi-final! pic.twitter.com/QygccN3eeJ

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 2, 2024

There could’ve been a second soon after, but Nico Gonzalez ballooned over the bar from 14 yards after a Cristiano Biraghi pull-back from the by-line.

It was chaos in the box when Pietro Terracciano parried a Thiago shot, Luca Ranieri pulled his arms out of the way, but the striker then prodded the rebound onto Biraghi’s arm. A penalty was awarded following a VAR On-Field Review and Hans Vanacken converted with a delicate dummy.

Nico Gonzalez blasted over from a promising position and Jack Bonaventura’s strike was only parried into the path of Andrea Belotti to drill low into the bottom corner and restore Fiorentina’s advantage.

Lucas Beltran redirected the Sottil cross inches off target, while Belotti’s header was fingertipped over the bar on a Biraghi free kick.

Sottil was forced off the field after landing heavily on his shoulder and Christian Kouame turned over from a set play.

There was confusion when Raphael Onyedika was sent off for a second yellow card, as he had seemingly not realised there had been a first booking.

However, moments later Club Brugge equalised when down to 10 men, as Thiago ran onto a long ball, shrugged off Ranieri and fired into the far bottom corner.

Thiago levels for 10-man Brugge from an extremely tight angle 💪

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK #UECL pic.twitter.com/ARbgwllUO5

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 2, 2024

Bonaventura’s chest and volley was deflected wide, as was a terrible Belotti header, but the siege finally paid off in stoppages when M’Bala Nzola saw his first attempt come off the upright and bundled the rebound over the line from six yards.