Aleksey Miranchuk’s cheeky finish into the top corner gave Torino their first Serie A win away to Fiorentina for over 45 years, but the Viola were again too wasteful in attack.
These teams went into the game with an identical Serie A record and will face off again in the Coppa Italia quarter-final on February 1. Lorenzo Venuti replaced suspended Dodo, with Gaetano Castrovilli, Arthur Cabral, Lucas Martinez Quarta and Riccardo Sottil injured. Toro missed Sasa Lukic, Perr Schuurs, Valentin Lazaro, Ola Aina and Pietro Pellegri, so gave Coppa Italia hero Michel Adopo his first start.
The Granata’s last Serie A victory at the Stadio Franchi was a 1-0 result in October 1976, followed by 14 draws and 19 defeats here.
Demba Seck had the ball in the net on 12 minutes, but had started his run a little early and was caught offside.
Jonathan Ikone had a shot charged down, but Seck again threatened when he sprung the offside trap to smash a finish against the crossbar from a tricky angle.
Pietro Terracciano got down to get one arm to a Wilfried Singo daisy-cutter that went through Igor’s legs and Nikola Vlasic wasn’t ready on the rebound.
Vanja Milinkovic-Savic also made a decisive save when Christian Kouame got in front of his marker to meet Cristiano Biraghi’s assist at the near post.
Toro had the better of the first half and took a deserved lead when Sofyan Amrabat gave it away cheaply in midfield and Aleksey Miranchuk picked his spot from the edge of the box, scooping it into the far top corner.
Samuele Ricci fired straight at Terracciano moments later after another misplaced pass, while Giacomo Bonaventura’s strike was fingertipped over.
Jonathan Ikone’s flicked header from a Lorenzo Venuti cross was inches past both the far post and the head of his teammate Nico Gonzalez, but Venuti practically cleared off the line from substitute Antonio Sanabria after some chaotic defending.
Luka Jovic turned over from a promising position and it turned into a siege in stoppages. First Milinkovic-Savic rushed out to close down Kouame, with David Zima making a decisive tackle on Jovic for the rebound, then Milinkovic-Savic used his outstretched foot to deny Antonin Barak.
Fiorentina 0-1 Torino
Miranchuk 33 (T)