Torino emerged from quarantine to surprisingly thump Fiorentina 4-0 with a Josip Brekalo brace, Wilfried Singo and Antonio Sanabria making the most of sloppy defending.
This fixture was postponed from yesterday, as Toro had just emerged from five days of quarantine following a COVID outbreak, so youth team goalkeeper Luca Gemello got his debut. It was also the first game of 2022 for the Viola, as Udinese were quarantined on January 6.
The hosts took the lead after 19 minutes when Wilfried Singo peeled away from his marker at the back post to nod in a Mergim Vojvoda cross from the left.
Moments later, Torino doubled their advantage with a well-worked move down the right, Sasa Lukic riding a tackle to roll across for the Josip Brekalo tap-in.
Fiorentina finally woke up, Nico Gonzalez and Dusan Vlahovic testing the debutant goalkeeper, but Jose Callejon’s appalling back-pass left Pietro Terracciano somewhat stranded, allowing Brekalo to pounce and deposit into an empty net.
There were two changes at half-time, but Torino added a fourth when substitute Igor completely misjudged Rolando Mandragora’s pass, not realising Antonio Sanabria was right behind him to go around Terracciano and score.
When the Viola did get a shot on target with the Gonzalez header, Gemello was equal to it. Jonathan Ikone made his Fiorentina debut for the final stages, but the die was cast.
Torino 4-0 Fiorentina
Singo 19 (T), Brekalo 23, 31 (T), Sanabria 59 (T)