Riccardo Saponara came off the bench to inspire Fiorentina, scoring a scorcher and assisting Giacomo Bonaventura, in a 2-1 win away to Genoa.
The Grifone were fresh off their first win of the season, fighting back from 2-0 down to beat Cagliari 3-2, and gave brace hero Mohamed Fares his first start, but Felipe Caicedo and Stefano Sturaro were still out of action. The Viola started strong under new coach Vincenzo Italiano and Dusan Vlahovic had five goals in four games between Serie A and the Coppa Italia. Alvaro Odriozola stepped in for injured Lorenzo Venuti at right-back.
Cristiano Biraghi started strong, a cross-shot just beyond Dusan Vlahovic and his free kick palmed out of the near top corner.
Gaetano Castrovilli flung himself at a Jose Callejon cross, but in torrential rain, he kept sliding and collided heavily with the upright, prompting his substitution.
Odriozola almost gifted a goal to Genoa with his horrible back-pass, but Bartlomiej Dragowski rushed off his line to deny Mattia Destro.
Fiorentina dominated possession and the initiative, Domenico Criscito needing a desperate block on Nico Gonzalez when sent through by Giacomo Bonaventura’s slide-rule pass.
Salvatore Sirigu showed cat-like reflexes on a deflected Bonaventura shot that threatened to loop up over him.
Saponara came on for the second half and made an immediate impact, as on the hour mark he cut in from the left to unleash a right-foot rocket from just inside the penalty area, giving Fiorentina a deserved lead.
Valon Behrami was furious when he went down under a clumsy Erick Pulgar challenge from behind, but VAR ruled it was not a penalty, because Pulgar in turn had been barged over first.
Sirigu needed an extraordinary one-handed save to push the Alfred Duncan screamer away.
Genoa started to finally push Fiorentina back in the final minutes, Sofyan Amrabat’s defensive header risking an own goal on Hernani.
However, the Viola added a second to make sure of the result. Biraghi’s pull-back was beaten away at the near post and Saponara provided the assist for Bonaventura on the rebound.
There was some scant consolation for the Grifone, as Igor brought down Milan Badelj in an entirely futile challenge, allowing Domenico Criscito to convert a penalty with the last kick of the game.
Genoa 1-2 Fiorentina
Saponara 60 (F), Bonaventura 89 (F), Criscito pen 98 (G)