Fiorentina came back from 2-0 down to hold Sassuolo 2-2 in an exhilarating match, despite Cristiano Biraghi’s red card.
These were two of the most attack-minded teams in the league, under new young management and pushing for European football. Bartlomiej Dragowski, Erick Pulgar, Gaetano Castrovilli and Matija Nastasic were out of action, while the Neroverdi missed Filip Djuricic and suspended Kaan Ayhan.
Dusan Vlahovic’s overhead kick went just wide in the opening couple of minutes, while Pietro Terracciano parried a Giacomo Raspadori header from close range.
Andrea Consigli parried a Lucas Torreira volley and the Lucas Martinez-Quarta follow-up header went over the bar, as did Davide Frattesi’s free header at the other end.
The deadlock was finally broken when Frattesi sent Scamacca sprinting forward and the angled drive nestled into the far bottom corner.
Sassuolo doubled their lead moments later with a move played out from the back, as Raspadori nutmegged Martinez-Quarta, his pass allowed Frattesi to spring the offside trap and score left-footed from a tight angle.
Fiorentina fought back, forcing Consigli into two spectacular reaction saves on a deflected Jose Callejon volley and Nikola Milenkovic header, while Giacomo Bonaventura prodded a Vlahovic cross inches over.
There was a simply extraordinary save with the last kick of the half, as Martinez-Quarta knocked down a corner and Lucas Torreira redirected from point-blank range, but Consigli somehow palmed it over the bar.
Fiorentina came out fighting for the second half and pinned the visitors back, eventually Torreira’s through ball released Vlahovic to blast into the roof of the net one-on-one. It was his 33rd Serie A goal of 2021.
It was a Viola monologue and the comeback was completed after a chaotic move with a series of shots charged down, including Jeremy Toljan’s block on Vlahovic accidentally turning into an assist for Torreira at the back post.
Just as Fiorentina were dominating, there was another twist, as Cristiano Biraghi saw red for two very similar booking incidents for using a high elbow, both of them fairly soft.
Despite being down to 10 men, Ferrari still needed a fantastic defensive header to prevent Gonzalez nodding in the Alfred Duncan cross. At the other end, Pietro Terracciano flew to palm a Giorgios Kyriakopoulos screamer round the near post.
Fiorentina 2-2 Sassuolo
Scamacca 33 (S), Frattesi 37 (S), Vlahovic 51 (F), Torreira 61 (F)
Sent off: Biraghi 68 (F)
scamamacca is hot hot very hot. mancini must have him as no. 1 choice for the WC playoffs. he is a very talented striker. he reminds me of vieri. he is the future of azzurri. common mancini forget about immobile you’ve got the talent of all talents the name is scamacca. great footballer name. has power in to it.