Fiorentina crush Juventus to continue great form

Fiorentina added to Juventu’s misery at Stadio Artemio Franchi as they demolished Thiago Motta’s men.

This huge win for Viola has boosted their hopes to stay for a top-four finish.

The Turin giant came into this tie after suffering a 4-0 home defeat to Atalanta, ending their run of five straight Serie A victories, while Fiorentina recently proceeded to the quarter-final of the UEFA Conference League after ousting Panathinaikos.

Due to flooding in the Florence area, there were doubts over whether the game would go ahead, and there was a minute’s silence before kick-off for Fiorentina director Joe Barone, who died a year ago.

Fiorentina went ahead from a set play. Renato Veigav charged Robin Gosens’ header from Danilo Cataldi’s corner, then thumped it on the volley from the rebound from 10 yards.

The hosts doubled their lead moments later as former striker Kean knocked down a long ball; Fagioli picked a smart pass through the center as Mandragora kept his cool to place the left-foot-angled drive across Michele Di Gregorio into the far bottom corner.

Juventus got the first chance to reduce the deficit after the restart as Weston McKennie’s volley was charged down by Luca Ranieri in the six-yard box.

 As Juve struggled to make themselves all dangerous, Viola took the result beyond their visitors with the third when Fagioli fed Gudmundsson in midfield; the Iceland international ran forward and hit a screamer through Renato Veiga’s legs into the near bottom corner from distance.

They almost made it four, but Kean was offside when he robbed Renato Veiga to go clear and deposit into the empty net.

Juventus prevented themselves from scoring when Gosens made an acrobatic clearance, preventing anyone from getting on the end of a Teun Koopmeiners cross in the six-yard box. A weak Khephren Thuram effort straight at David De Gea was the veteran goalkeeper’s toughest test.

Juventus suffered a late injury blow as Andrea Cambiaso limped off with another ankle strain in the final minutes. This marks a disaster for  Juve that conceded seven goals in two games, dropping down to fifth place.