Serie A | Fiorentina 2-1 Lazio: Perfect Gudmundsson debut

Albert Gudmundsson could not have asked for a better debut, converting two penalties to beat Lazio and give Fiorentina their first win of the season.

The Viola were still without a victory between Serie A and the Conference League, missing Marin Pongracic and with Gudmundsson finally on the bench. Taty Castellanos and Samuel Gigot missed the trip, so Tijjani Noslin moved into the centre-forward role. Gaetano Castrovilli and Danilo Cataldi faced their former clubs.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Ivan Provedel made an incredible reaction save with his trailing leg to deflect the Andrea Colpani effort onto the upright in the opening minutes, as Lazio had given the ball away in midfield.

David De Gea was also decisive in parrying the Mattia Zaccagni strike at the near post and Noslin just failed to get on the end of a Manuel Lazzari ball across the face of goal, while Moise Kean volleyed wide from 13 yards.

Nuno Tavares tested De Gea from distance and nobody was ready for the rebound when the goalkeeper parried a Mario Gila header from a corner, but the veteran’s toughest save was one-handed on a ferocious Boulaye Dia counter-attack that was heading for the far bottom corner.

Lazio broke through moments later, as Nuno Tavares floated a free kick over the top for the Mario Gila header from six yards, giving De Gea little chance.

Gudmundsson made his Fiorentina debut for the second half and had an immediate impact, because within three minutes he had been fouled by Matteo Guendouzi for a penalty that he himself then converted.

Kean wasted a golden opportunity to turn the game around for Fiorentina, as he was totally unmarked on a Dodo cross and turned the free header wide from six yards.

Colpani cut inside to whip a fierce left-foot finish just past the far post from distance, but Guendouzi had two huge chances in the space of 20 seconds. First his powerful shot from the edge of the area was palmed away by De Gea, then on the resulting Zaccagni corner his bizarre looping header bounced off the underside of the crossbar.

However, Nuno Tavares went in late on Dodo as he pulled back from the by-line and another Fiorentina penalty was awarded following a VAR On-Field Review. As the contact was on the line, it was part of the box. Despite Kean’s protestations, Gudmundsson insisted on taking this one too and beat Provedel with a central effort into the roof of the net.

Kean could’ve had another with the last kick of the game, nodding the Robin Gosens cross over.