Fiorentina: salvation difficult, but possible

Tell me what history you have and I’ll tell you who you are. In Florence there are days of questions, of examinations of conscience, of spasmodic checks on the rankings. Which doesn’t lie: the Viola are languishing in the slums, with only 4 points. No wins in 10 games, just one draw at home from 5 attempts. And a question that everyone at Fiorentina has been dealing with for days: but is Viola really at risk of ending up in Serie B? Answer: absolutely yes. The precedents say so. And the teams that in the last thirty years have achieved equal or worse loot than the Tuscans.

horror beginnings

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In the beginning it was Brescia and Reggiana: 1994-95 season, the first to be considered because in that year three points for a victory were introduced. Rondinelle and Emilians are the first terms of comparison with which Fiorentina must compete: 3 points for Brescia, 2 for Reggiana in the first 10 matchdays. Neither of them survived at the end of the year. Indeed, they ended up in B one term early. The following year the films by Cremonese and Padova were tinged with horror plots: even in these two cases, neither managed to write a happy ending. Another attempt, this time with 1996-97: Reggiana last with 4 after 10 rounds. Miracle of salvation? No, he remained at the bottom of the list all year.

difficult, but possible

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A more than legitimate doubt then arises: isn’t Fiorentina’s feat in itself impossible? No, it’s not. Because someone managed to recover from the quicksand. Except that it took more than ten years to see the masterpiece completed: 2005-06 season, Cagliari started very badly, with 4 points. And in November they lie last on equal points with Lecce. The Sardinians need a miracle and the miracle arrives: the team survives with 39 points, closing in the best possible way a run-up to tell about to the grandchildren. The people of Salento, on the other hand, go downstairs. Because it was said at the beginning: the undertaking is possible, but very difficult.

FIORENTINA AND REGGINA MIRACLE

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Spoiler necessary to avoid long and uncomfortable searches online: in 31 years of Serie A, only five times has a team with Fiorentina’s initial performance survived at the end of the year. And the great thing is that on one occasion the masterpiece was achieved by… the Viola: 2006-07 season, the waste of Calciopoli corroded the Tuscans’ ranking with a 15-point penalty. An enormity. But Prandelli has a team from the left half of the table in his hands. Indeed, in Florence they roll up their sleeves and an unforgettable season emerges: the Viola have 0 points after 10 rounds (but 15 on the pitch) and at the end of the year they score 58, finding the pass to the UEFA Cup. Without the penalty it would have been Champions League. Even more sensational is what Mazzarri creates with Reggina: the Amaranths start with 11 points deducted and don’t have (on paper) Prandelli’s firepower. Salvation is all to be built. And Mazzari does even better: he finishes with 40 points. On the field the total rises to 51: it would have been eighth place.

good ideas

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Only five teams have managed the comeback. The last two in chronological order take us to 2013-14 (Chievo on matchday ten had the same points as Pioli’s Fiorentina) and above all to 2016-17. More than a season, a coming-of-age novel: the protagonist is Davide Nicola’s Crotone, last with only 2 points after 10 rounds. The feeling is that the rossoblù are destined to go downstairs without even trying to fight. But at the end of the film, instead of tears under the curve, there is a celebration that lasts all summer: Crotone finishes seventeenth with 34 points, the reputation of Nicola saving the little ones is born in the city where Pythagoras exported an industrial quantity of good ideas. Those that will also be useful to Fiorentina.