Fiorentina celebrated their return to Europe with shirts showing Davide Astori, as Cristiano Biraghi reveals they ‘made a promise when he died we’d get this club back to where he wanted it.’
The Viola needed a win to be sure of seventh place this season and they got it by beating arch-rivals Juventus 2-0 at the Stadio Franchi this evening.
Alfred Duncan opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before Nico Gonzalez converted a late penalty.
At the final whistle, Vincenzo Italiano’s men celebrated wearing shirts with the face of Astori, the captain who died suddenly in his sleep on the eve of a Serie A match against Udinese in March 2018.
The armband is now worn by Biraghi, who spoke to Sky Sport Italia.
“It’s not easy to find the words after a difficult year, one in which we had to start from scratch. We have brought back an atmosphere that Florence hadn’t felt for many years.
“There were a few slip-ups over the last few games, because we were not accustomed to playing under that kind of pressure. Perhaps it was destiny we had to do it against Juventus.
“When Davide died, we promised him that we’d get Fiorentina back to where he wanted it, back into Europe.”
#WelcomeBack in Europe 🌍⚜️#ForzaViola #FiorentinaJuventus #ACFFiorentina pic.twitter.com/JJn3imvRYA
— ACF Fiorentina (@acffiorentina) May 21, 2022