It was a six-goal thriller in Salerno, as Boulaye Dia’s hat-trick was not enough to give Salernitana victory when Fiorentina kept fighting back.
Paulo Sousa faced his former club, albeit from the stands due to a touchline ban, and was fresh from ruining Napoli’s Scudetto party, extending their unbeaten run to nine rounds. Antonio Candreva joined Federico Fazio and Domen Crnigoj on the treatment table. The Viola are in the Conference League semi-final and Coppa Italia Final, hammering Sampdoria 5-0 at the weekend to keep them in the chase for eighth place.
Antonin Barak turned over from a Dodo cross, but it was Salernitana who took the lead when Boulaye Dia sprung the offside trap, skipped past Igor and surprised Pietro Terracciano by drilling in at the near post rather than going for the angled drive.
The hosts lost Norbert Gyomber to a thigh injury and Gaetano Castrovilli’s effort was deflected off Lorenzo Pirola, while Nico Gonzalez fired over the bar from a very promising position.
The Argentina international made up for it by equalising with a towering header on Dodo’s cross at the back post.
However, Dia’s current form is remarkable and he scored again for Salernitana, running at Igor and Dodo to cut inside and drill now into the bottom corner from 14 yards.
Jonathan Ikone just failed to connect properly with a Cristiano Biraghi cross and Nico Gonzalez fired over the bar, until Giacomo Bonaventura’s slide-rule pass allowed Ikone to spring the offside trap, dribble around Ochoa and score from a tight angle.
Ochoa made a sensational reaction save on Luka Jovic and then the ricochet off Lucas Martinez Quarta’s shin on a corner, but Salernitana received a penalty when Pasquale Mazzocchi was wiped out by Terracciano as he ran onto the Lassana Coulibaly ball floated over the top. Dia converted to complete his hat-trick.
It still wasn’t over, as Biraghi’s free kick was fired in from a tricky angle and supposed to find a tap-in, but nobody touched it and the ball went straight in at the far bottom corner.
Salernitana 3-3 Fiorentina
Dia 10, 59, pen 81 (S), Nico Gonzalez 36 (F), Ikone 71 (F), Biraghi 85 (F)
Player statistic
| Boulaye Dia (Assist: Domagoj Bradaric) |
 |
10' | ||
| 36' | |
Nicólas González (Assist: Dodô) | ||
| 40' |  |
Rolando Mandragora | ||
| 43' | |
Gaetano Castrovilli | ||
| 45' | |
Arthur Cabral |
| Flavius Daniliuc | |
49' | ||
| Emil Bohinen | |
51' | ||
| 55' | |
Lucas Martínez Quarta | ||
| Boulaye Dia (Assist: Erik Botheim) |
|
59' | ||
| 71' | |
Jonathan Ikoné (Assist: Giacomo Bonaventura) | ||
| Boulaye Dia |  |
81' | ||
| Domagoj Bradaric | |
84' | ||
| 85' | |
Cristiano Biraghi | ||
| 90+4' | |
Alfred Duncan |
Match statistic
