Kean takes the hosts forward, Dembelé’s expulsion complicates life for the Granata, in the second half the Lithuanian comes on and equalizes the scores
This time it is the heart (and desire) of the young Granata players Gineitis and Njie that allow Toro to emerge unscathed and with their heads held high by the Franchi. With ten against eleven for a good hour, due to Dembelé’s expulsion, Toro gained a significant point in Florence with character and personality, collecting their fourth consecutive useful result. The glass was clearly half empty for Fiorentina, however, ahead in the first half with the usual Kean, then unable to seal the victory despite the numerical superiority and achieved in the second half by a goal from Gineitis. Palladino (heavily booed) continues his abstinence: he hasn’t won in the championship since December 8th. The feeling is that his bench is no longer so solid.
Red and purple shot
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For a good half hour, Fiorentina and Turin looked at each other, smelled each other, studied each other. More purple dribbling, good grenade solidity. Without any particular shocks: Gudmundsson warms up Milinkovic (15′), then Tameze (header) tests De Gea’s reflexes (18′). Palladino and Vanoli (suspended, Godinho is on the bench) “almost” mirror each other: Fiorentina with the 4-2-3-1 (Folorunsho starting), Toro with a dynamic 4-2-3-1 in the sense that it often tends to become 4-4-2 with Vlasic on Adams’ line. Up until the 28th minute the strongest emotion was Comuzzo’s header which hit the scoreboards. The balance was broken in the 8′ from 25′ to 33′ when Dembelé was sent off (first time as a starter in Serie A). In the 25th minute he received his first yellow card due to a sliding intervention to stop Gosens’ run. The second yellow card comes in the 33rd minute for a repeated hold in midfield on Folorunsho. Toro in ten: it is the breaking point of the balance of the Franchi match. In the 38th minute Fiorentina passes: cross by Gudmundsson, scissors kick by Colpani which Milinkovic opposes with a great reflex but the Toro goalkeeper can do nothing on Kean’s rebound.
crossbar
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Down by a man and a goal, however, Toro found the energy at the end of the first half to react. In the 43rd minute, in fact, a treacherous diagonal shot from Karamoh touches the post and equalises. A minute later Milinkovic had to fly to a close Kean, made even more dangerous by the double rebound of the ball under the eyes of the goalkeeper. In injury time of the first half, the great opportunity belongs to Toro: following a corner kick, a rebound from Comuzzo favors Coco who hits the crossbar. At half-time, Palladino’s team is ahead.
the young of the bull
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The first move from the bench is del Toro’s: after about ten minutes Vanoli (in the stands) removes Vlasic and Tameze, throwing the young Njie and Gineitis into the fray. A moment later Sosa comes into contact with Colpani and is injured, with Masina taking his place. In a match that seems to be falling asleep, and in which Fiorentina does not have the strength to close it, it is the push given by the young Granata players that makes the difference. In the 25th minute the flash came from 2005 Njie: great play, control, double dribbling and a shot just wide that almost equalised. On the next goal kick Comuzzo and Adli combine to create an omelette, the 2004 Gineitis pounces on the Frenchman like a hawk who snatches the ball in the heart of the area and scores the equalizer. Toro reaches the draw with the man down. Palladino’s counter move is the insertion of Beltran and Sottil (for Mandragora and Gudmundsson) for the final quarter of an hour. In injury time, however, it was Masina who came close to scoring.
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