FIORENTINA BEATEN AT THE FRANCHI
Serie A
Plenty of emotions and plenty of meaning. We came back from the break with a hard-fought and important 2-1 win against Fiorentina; all three goals were scored in the first eight minutes of the second half. After the first half with plenty of spurned chances, Loftus-Cheek opened the scoring two minutes after the break before Duncan's immediate equaliser. Leão then scored the eventual winner. This is our sixth consecutive victory (fourth in Serie A) and we got to enjoy Rubes' tenth goal of the season and a sensational display from Rafa (goal and assist) to mark his 200th appearance for the Club. To top it off, Mike made a pair of sensational saves. With this win, the Rossoneri are now six points clear of Juventus and have a strong hold on second place, which should be cause for calm heading into their upcoming fixtures.
There were plenty of positives to take from an emotional night at the Franchi, which began with a tribute from the home supporters to Joe Barone, who passed away on 19 March. It's time to smile and take a deep breath because coming back from the international break is always tricky. Curiously, the reverse fixture against Fiorentina (which we won 1-0 thanks to a Theo goal) was also our first fixture back following the international window in November. In the absence of our number 19, who was suspended, Florenzi stepped in and played brilliantly, as did many others for the Rossoneri tonight. There was the odd worry late on in defence but, in general, the team managed the game well throughout. Now, it's on to Lecce at San Siro next Saturday.
CHECK OUT THE GALLERY FROM FIORENTINA v AC MILAN
THE MATCH
There was a fierce atmosphere at the Franchi, and it was an electric opening half that saw many chances, mainly for the Rossoneri. The first came on eight minutes, engineered by a lively Chukwueze, who squared for Giroud in the area, but Oli's shot was too central. When we looked to penetrate, we were dangerous and after eleven minutes Rafa sprung into life, shifting the ball onto his right and just curling wide of the far post. It was Leão again soon after with a lovely cross to the backpost for Chukwu, but his header on-target forced Terracciano into making his first great save of the evening. At the turn of the half-hour mark, Fiorentina got their first look-in: firstly, Belotti called Maignan into action, who made himself big, and from the following corner Ikoné’s left-footed strike was off-target. It was our turn to push back forward and Reijnders’ shimmy and right-footed shot was once again stopped by Terracciano. In the 43rd minute, the Viola goalkeeper made his sixth save of the first half from Rafa, through on-goal, before a minute later the Portuguese player squared to Giroud, who shot over from in front of goal: 0-0 at the break.
There was an immediate chance to take the lead at the start of the second half: Chukwu found Rafa in the area, whose backheel cross into the middle fell for Loftus-Cheek, who took full advantage of Milenković's slip to poke home and make it 1-0. The Viola hit back immediately through Duncan, whose left-footed shot from the edge of the box flew past Maignan in the 50th minute. But staying on level terms didn’t last long as Rafa set off on the counterattack, outpaced the Viola defence, rounded Terracciano and tucked home into an empty net to make it 2-1 in the 53rd minute. Terracciano was decisive again after 62 minutes, when he made a flying save to palm Florenzi's right-footed effort wide for a corner. In the 64th minute, Maignan also had to fling himself to stop Belotti's shot from flying into the top corner. And then Mike, once again, showed off his brilliance flying across goal to keep out Mandragora's close-range left-footed attempt in the 72nd minute. Pulisic came on a minute later and had the ball in the back of the net in the 74th minute, but it was ruled out for offside. Chris, again, tried his luck in injury time, but his left-footed strike this time stung Terracciano's hands. That was the last of the action and the game ended 2-1 to us!
MATCH DETAILS
FIORENTINA 1-2 AC MILAN
FIORENTINA (4-2-3-1): Terracciano; Dodô (69' Kayode), Milenković, Martínez Quarta (88' Barák), Biraghi; Duncan, Mandragora; Ikoné (88' Sottil), Beltrán (79' Nzola), Kouamé (69' González); Belotti. Subs.: Martinelli, Vannucchi; Comuzzo, Faraoni, Parisi, Ranieri; Arthur, Castrovilli, Infantino, Lopez. Coach: Italiano.
AC MILAN (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw (46' Gabbia), Tomori, Florenzi; Bennacer, Reijnders (63' Musah); Chukwueze (73' Pulisic), Loftus-Cheek, Leão (63' Okafor); Giroud (82' Jović). Subs.: Nava, Sportiello; Bartesaghi, Simić, Terracciano; Adli, Zeroli. Coach: Pioli.
Referee: Maresca from Napoli.
Goal: 47' Loftus-Cheek (M), 50' Duncan (F), 53' Leão (M).
Booked: 13' Biraghi (F), 21' Thiaw (M), 23' Martínez Quarta (F), 90' Tomori (M), 93' Loftus-Cheek (M).
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