Vincenzo Italiano’s Fiorentina maintained control of their Coppa Italia Round of 16 clash with Sampdoria, seeing out a 1-0 win.
The Viola have struggled to show their best this season, suffering from inconsistency both domestically and in the Europa Conference League. They’ve picked up three wins from their last five league outings and are working hard to stable the ship in Florence ahead of the second half of the season.
Things have been much tougher for Sampdoria this season and they currently sit 19th in the Serie A table, six points behind 17th place Spezia.
Fiorentina looked calm in the early stages of their clash with Sampdoria and soon found the advantage, going ahead in the 25th minute thanks to a thunderous close-range shot from Antonin Barak.
They faced little threat for the remainder of the first half and entered the break confident, avoiding any major mistakes.
Their control continued in the second half and Fiorentina did well to limit any Sampdoria chances, leaving the Serie A strugglers exasperated at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Jeison Murillo picked up a second yellow card in extra time, ending his evening a few minutes early.
Fiorentina’s win takes them to the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia, where they’ll face Torino. The Granata edged out a 1-0 win over Milan to book their spot in the next round.