Fiorentina recovered from an early goal to defeat Sivasspor 4-1 in Turkey, securing their quarter-final spot with an eighth consecutive Conference League victory.
The Viola won the first leg 1-0 with Antonin Barak’s strike, despite wasting several opportunities to give themselves a bigger lead in that seventh consecutive Conference League victory. Pietro Terracciano returned from illness, with Aleksa Terzic still out. The hosts missed Caner Osmanpasa, Robin Yalcin and suspended Max Gradel.
Giacomo Bonaventura fired straight at the goalkeeper and Jordy Caicedo curled inches wide after Dodo lost the ball in the final third.
Terracciano was alert to punch away a ferocious Erdogan Yesilyurt scorcher from outside the box, but when the same player tried again on 35 minutes, this time there was not much the goalkeeper could do as it flew into the far top corner from 25 metres out.
This made the aggregate score 1-1, but Fiorentina fought back immediately, as Nico Gonzalez went on a mazy run, completed a give and go with Bonaventura and tested the goalkeeper, with Arthur Cabral ready to tap in the rebound from six yards.
After the restart, Rolando Mandragora combined with Cabral for an angled drive that was pushed off target by the goalkeeper’s out-stretched boot.
Jonathan Ikone’s strike was deflected inches wide by a defender and on the resulting Mandragora corner, Nikola Milenkovic soared above the crowd for a towering header to give Fiorentina the lead.
Lucas Martinez-Quarta was booked for jumping with arm raised and will be suspended for the quarter-final.
Fiorentina couldn’t believe they hadn’t scored a third soon after, as Ikone got to the by-line and pulled back, it squirmed under the goalkeeper’s gloves and rolled along the line, but Ali Sasal Vural managed to just fingertip it off the line as Cabral was sliding in.
Terracciano mis-timed the clearance on a corner as Appindangoye’s header was over the empty net, but instead Sivasspor gifted the Viola an own goal when Goutas didn’t seem to realise Vural was off his line and nodded it backwards.
Hakan Arslan let the tension get to him and kicked out at Mandragora in a reaction foul, trying to get him in the face, fortunately only grazing his chin, but the intention was a straight red card.
Gaetano Castrovilli had hit the crossbar with a scorpion kick in the first leg, but got his goal this time with a sensational right-foot curler into the far top corner from the edge of the box.
Sivasspor 1-4 Fiorentina (1-5 agg)
Erdogan Yesilyurt 35 (S), Cabral 44 (F), Milenkovic 62 (F), Goutas og 79 (F), Castrovilli 89 (F)
Sent off: Hakan Arslan 81 (S)