Fiorentina climbed into the Serie A top four at the expense of Juventus after a narrow 1-0 victory away against Genoa on Thursday evening, thanks to Robin Gosens’s second-half effort.
Both sides made a handful of alterations to their starting line-ups after the weekend’s round of fixtures. Moise Kean dropped out of the Fiorentina starting line-up, and it was one too soon for Balotelli in Genoa colours.
Genoa were the first of the sides to come close when Alan Matturo registered an acrobatic effort on target following a deep-free kick delivery. David De Gea had no issues in keeping it out. Stefano Sabelli also sent a threatening effort just wide of the post.
Amir Richardson came closest for Fiorentina with a bending effort in off the right flank, but Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was able to smother it.
Fiorentina found the breakthrough 25 minutes into the second half. Substitute Yacine Adli worked hard on the right flank, before freeing Lucas Beltran, who delivered an enticing cross into the middle of the area.
Gosens missed his header initially, but shrugged off the Genoa challenges to get a crucial foot on his second attempt, sending the ball trickling into the far corner past Nicola Leali for 1-0.
Patrizio Masini almost troubled Fiorentina and De Gea with an acrobatic bicycle kick five minutes from time, but La Viola were let off when the shot whistled wide of the post.
De Gea had to be at his best again during injury time, as he did incredibly well to claw Johan Vasquez’s goal-bound header behind for a corner.
In the phase following the subsequent corner, Christian Kouamé bizarrely tried to lob Leali from half-way, despite Fiorentina being through one-on-one with around three minutes to go. He failed to get any lift on his shot, and it dribbled wide of the post for a goal-kick.
As a result, Fiorentina are now up to fourth place in Serie A, demoting Juventus down to fifth, while Genoa remain rooted to the bottom of the league table with six points after 10 games.
Full-time: Genoa 0-1 Fiorentina
Gosens 72′.
Player statistic
| Andrea Pinamonti |  |
2' | ||
| 6' | |
Amir Richardson | ||
| 11' | |
Lucas Martínez Quarta |
| 72' |  |
Robin Gosens (Assist: Lucas Beltrán) | ||
| Alessandro Vogliacco | |
78' | ||
| Johan Vásquez | |
90+2' | ||
| Alan Matturro | |
90+3' |