Fiorentina-Turin 0-1, Miranchuk debunks Florence taboo after 46 years

THE MATCH
Historic feat of the Bull, which hadn’t won in Florence since 31 October 1976 with the signing of Ciccio Graziani, a few months after winning the last scudetto. A deserved success for the grenade, thanks to a first half of great quality and a recovery of suffering and a big heart. The historic goal bears the signature of Miranchuk, but at the basis of the masterpiece there are the well-chosen choices of Juric, who chooses Seck as center forward, a move that sends the Lily defense into a tailspin. And when it comes to suffering, the cover takes over Milinkovic-Savic, author of two great saves. At Viola, on the other hand, there is great regret for the second defeat in a row, which dampens European ambitions. The Italian team was completely wrong in the first half, they improved in the second half but paid for the poor streak of their forwards and the imprecision in the last 20 metres.

The Italian chooses Venuti for the disqualification Dodò, while the big surprise is in attack: Jovic starts on the bench, the first striker is Kouame with Ikone, Bonaventura and Saponara behind him. Juric recovers Schuurs, but only for the bench: Rodriguez wins the runoff with Zima. In midfield there is Adopo, the avenger of Milan in the Italian Cup, while in attack Seck is preferred to Sanabria. Fiorentina tries to play the game, but the maneuver is slow and imprecise, with many errors in the planning phase also due to the great pressure from Toro. Juric’s plan is clear: to close all the spaces and, as soon as the ball is recovered, go vertical to trigger Seck’s speed. The first alarm bell for Viola came in the 12th minute, when Ricci launched Seck into space who struck Terracciano with his left foot, but the grenade forward went offside. The defense suffers from the speed and movements of the 21-year-old Senegalese, who goes very close to scoring in the 22nd minute: it is again Ricci who activates it, with a violent left foot that hits the crossbar. Toro plays better and three minutes later Terracciano rejects a low shot from Singo, Vlasic misses the tap-in on the rebound. To see the first (and only) dangerous shot by the Tuscans you have to wait half an hour: Biraghi for Kouame, who anticipates Buongiorno but his left footed shot is miraculously rejected by Milinkovic-Savic. In the 33rd minute the grenades go ahead with great merit, but there is a little help from Fiorentina: Amrabat misses the support, Vojvoda intercepts and serves Miranchuk, who with a delicate left foot puts it in the corner where Terracciano cannot reach it. The Italian team can’t shake it off and in the final Vlasic (shot deflected by Igor) is close to doubling the lead. Upon returning from the changing rooms, whistles rise from the stands for the home team, subdued and almost never dangerous.

The Italian leaves Biraghi (in Terzic) in the locker room and after less than 10′ of the second half he gives another clear signal, that is that nobody is irreplaceable, removing Amrabat and Saponara to make room for Jovic and Gonzalez. Fiorentina in the second half at least put their heart into it, but they always lack precision in the last few metres. Toro, who has spent so much in the first half, is almost never able to restart, but defends itself in order against the disorderly assault of the hosts. Apart from a central conclusion by Bonaventura raised over the crossbar by Milinkovic-Savic, the best of Fiorentina can be seen in the final, when Milinkovic-Savic takes the chair. In the 90th minute the Serbian goalkeeper saves on Kouame, the ball reaches Jovic who jumps Zima but the defender recovers and fouls his decisive shot. A minute later, the foot save with which he denies Barak the 1-1 is really valuable and avoids Toro a sensational mockery. Because tonight at the Franchi there’s no doubt that the team that played better won.

REPORT CARDS
Column 6 – The Italian lines him up as a centre-forward, in a role that is not his, and the former Genoa player is the most dangerous forward with his speed. Milinkovic-Savic is miraculous in the first half, in the second half he always crashes and is the last to give up.
icon 5 – Bad evening for the French forward, who never manages to turn on the light or find a play worthy of the name.
He loved 5 – The Moroccan midfielder returned visibly tired from the World Cup lived as a protagonist. He is unable to get the team going and has Miranchuk’s goal on his conscience, an action triggered by his mistake in setting up.

Miranchuk – The Russian goes a bit intermittently, he’s not always at the center of the game but the left foot with which he unlocks the match is really delicious and very classy.
Sec 7 – Surprisingly, Juric deploys him as a central striker and the Senegalese responds brilliantly. A goal disallowed, a crossbar and many plays that keep the Viola rearguard apprehensive. In the second half he sacrifices himself to make the team go up. Happy surprise.
Milinkovic-Savic 7 – There is also his contribution in the feat of the bull in Florence. Miraculous in the first half on Kouame, attentive on Bonaventura and providential footing on Barak right in the 90th minute.

THE TABLE
FIORENTINA-TORINO 0-1
Fiorentina (4-2-3-1): Terracciano 6; Venuti 6, Milenkovic 6, Igor 6, Biraghi 5.5 (1st Terzic 5.5); Amrabat 5 (9′ st Jovic 5.5), Duncan 5.5 (25′ st Barak 6); Ikone 5, Bonaventura 6 (42′ st Bianco sv), Saponara 5 (9′ st Gonzalez 5,5); Kouame 6. A disp.: Cerofolini, Martinelli, Ranieri, Mandragora, Krastev, Kayode. All.: Italian 5
Torino (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic 7; Djidji 6 (27′ st Zima 6.5), Buongiorno 6, Rodriguez 6.5; Singo 6, Adopo 6 (24′ st Linetty 6), Ricci 6.5, Vojvoda 6; Miranchuk 7, Vlasic 6; Sec 7 (36′ st Sanabria sv). A disp.: Fiorenza, Gemello, Bayeye, Schuurs, Karamoh, Radonjic, Dembele, Gineitis, N’Guessan. All.: Juric 7
Referee: Dionysis
Markers: 33′ Miranchuk (T)
Ammonite yourself: Ricci (T), Saponara (F), Duncan (F), Sanabria (T)
Expelled: –
Note: –

THE STATISTICS
Torino won at Fiorentina in Serie A for the first time since October 1976.
Aleksey Miranchuk is the fourth Russian player to reach double figures in his career in Serie A (10), after Igor Kolyvanov (44), Igor Shalimov (25) and Igor Simutenkov (13).
Mërgim Vojvoda has dished four assists this Serie A – his personal best in a single season in the top flight – among defenders only Mário Rui (six) has more in the tournament.
Torino achieved two straight wins against Fiorentina in Serie A for the first time since 1983.
Aleksey Miranchuk equaled his record for goals in a single Serie A campaign (4 for Atalanta in 2020/21).
Fiorentina have lost two games in a row without scoring for the second time in this league (the first in October 2022 against Lazio and Atalanta).
Fiorentina and Sampdoria are the two teams against which Mërgim Vojvoda has more than one assist in Serie A (two).
Since the beginning of 2023, Torino has been the team that has hit the most woodwork in Serie A.
Fiorentina has fielded its formation with the highest average age of this championship (28 years and 129 days).
Antonio Sanabria played his 100th match in Serie A.