Fiorentina are through to the Europa League Round of 32 after a 2-1 victory away to Qarabag, but Federico Chiesa scored and was sent off.
See how the day’s Europa League action unfolds on the Liveblog.
Fiorentina are through to the Europa League Round of 32 after a 2-1 victory away to Qarabag, but Federico Chiesa scored and was sent off.
See how the day’s Europa League action unfolds on the Liveblog.
The Viola should’ve been secure going into Azerbaijan, but last time a shock 3-2 home defeat to PAOK meant they still needed a point from this final group game. Qarabag would go through with a victory, but missed suspended Maksim Medvedev and Michel. When these sides met in Florence, the Baku boys actually had an excellent start, but an early red card saw them capitulate 5-1.
Davide Astori’s header looped inches past the far top corner on an early Federico Bernardeschi free kick, while Dino Ndlovu got into a couple of dangerous positions without much support.
Matias Vecino’s set piece skimmed the base of the near post, but news filtered through that PAOK were beating Slovan Liberec, which put extra pressure on these sides.
On 32 minutes Dino Ndlovu ran on to a long ball, shrugging off Gonzalo Rodriguez and Nenad Tomovic, his low drove from just inside the box fingertipped on to the upright by Ciprian Tatarusanu.
Moments later the Viola also rattled the woodwork, Bernardeschi taking a touch to control and then shooting on the spin against the near post from 12 yards.
It was 0-0 at the break and, as things stood, Fiorentina would go through with PAOK, but a defeat here could be disastrous for the Viola.
The unimpressive Khouma Babacar was hooked away after the restart, while Ndlovu burst past Gonzalo Rodriguez only to then trip over his own feet.
Fiorentina got a stroke of luck to break the deadlock, because a hopeful Matias Vecino snapshot from the D took a deflection off Sadygov to squirm under the goalkeeper.
They looked confident, aware they’d need to concede two goals to risk elimination, but were caught out when a Dani Quintana through ball sent Reynaldo clear on goal to slip an angled drive past Tatarusanu for the equaliser.
However, the panic did not last long, because Nikola Kalinic’s delicate finish at the far post was deflected into the air off the goalkeeper’s knee and Federico Chiesa was ready to nod in from point-blank range. It was the teenager’s first European goal, following in the footsteps of father Enrico Chiesa.
The fairy-tale quickly turned dark for Chiesa, who received a second yellow card and was sent off in Baku. His first booking was a case of mistaken identity, making it even more frustrating for the young midfielder.
Qarabag were denied an equaliser right at the death, as Mahir Madatov's header was cleared off the line.
Qarabag 1-2 Fiorentina
Vecino 59 (F), Reynaldo 73 (Q), Chiesa 76 (F)
Qarabag: Sehic; Gurbanov, Huseynov, R Sadygov, Agolli; Amirguliyev (Reynaldo 62), Garayev, Almeida; Dani Quintana, Dino Ndlovu (Madatov 71), Muarem (Ismayilov 46)
Fiorentina: Tatarusanu; Tomovic, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Astori, Olivera; Badelj, Vecino; Chiesa, Cristoforo (Borja Valero 61), Bernardeschi (Sanchez 83); Babacar (Kalinic 51)
Ref: Bebek (CRO)
Sent off: Chiesa 83 (F)