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·28 April 2024

Serie A | Fiorentina 5-1 Sassuolo: Unstoppable five-star Viola

Fiorentina flattened Sassuolo with a flurry of goals including Riccardo Sottil, Lucas Martinez Quarta and a Nico Gonzalez brace.

The Viola were stretched thin by a packed fixture list, coming off a 4-1 Coppa Italia semi-final defeat to Atalanta, but building up to the first leg of the Europa League semi-final with Club Brugge. The Neroverdi were in real trouble, sitting in penultimate place with Armand Lauriente suspended, Samu Castillejo, Domenico Berardi, Gregoire Defrel and Marcus Pedersen injured.

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Andrea Consigli had two tough early saves from corners, while Christian Kouame sliding in just failed to make contact with the Riccardo Sottil pull-back from the by-line.

Sottil broke the deadlock when he cut inside from the left and bent a right-foot curler into the far bottom corner from just outside the penalty area.

Fabiano Parisi almost made it 2-0 on 28 minutes, but his left-foot screamer smashed against the crossbar.

Oliver Christensen ran a risk when failing to anticipate Josh Doig, but managed to smother the Thorstvedt free kick routine.

Jonathan Ikone hugged the by-line to force a save from the tightest of angles, then failed to get his head to another Sottil cross.

Antonin Barak forced a Consigli save at the near post and Fiorentina doubled their lead when Nico Gonzalez stung the goalkeeper’s gloves for a corner.

From that set play, Arthur Melo floated a ball to the back post for the Lucas Martinez Quarta header. The defender dedicated it to director Joe Barone, who died last month.

Sassuolo immediately got themselves back into it with a well-worked move, as Kristian Thorstvedt got away from Alfred Duncan down the left and smashed a ferocious finish into the roof of the net from a tricky angle.

However, moments later Fiorentina had restored their two-goal cushion with Sottil’s cross going beyond Kouame, but finding the head of Nico Gonzalez.

The flurry of goals continued with a fourth for the Viola, Barak springing the offside trap on a Sottil through ball to score with an angled drive.

The fifth in a 12-minute spell was a well-worked move, as Nico Gonzalez flicked on the Duncan ball over the top and was ready to volley in the assist from Barak.

There was almost a sixth at the 69th minute, as Barak’s strike from a tight angle bounced off the inside of the far post and Consigli made a tough save on the rebound.

Nico Gonzalez also threatened to complete a hat-trick, volleying over from a tricky position, while Sottil’s acrobatic volley flashed just wide from an Andrea Belotti assist.