The heart wasn’t enough. This time, the dream was broken less than one step away from the end. Atalanta goes to the final, at the end of a double match that despite the numerical inferiority for the entire second half, Fiorentina had almost led to extra time. A heavy defeat, more for morale than for size. Yet, thinking about the Conference and the chase in the championship, the Viola will once again have to find the strength to start again. The same one that yesterday had pushed all the injured players to grit their teeth and do everything they could to be on the pitch from the first minute.
And so, after the doubts of the day before, here they are. All owners: inside Bonaventura, inside Beltran and inside Belotti. In short, Italian presented the best Fiorentina possible, with Kouame completing the battery in support of Gallo, Mandragora alongside Jack, Dodò preferred to Kayode and Ranieri with Milenkovic at the center of defence. The usual 4-2-3-1 therefore, against an Atalanta team without three important defenders (Toloi, Scalvini and Holm) but, for the rest, with all the guns available and ready to attack the Viola right from the start right away. This was the theme. Understanding how Biraghi and his teammates would have reacted to the Nerazzurri’s predictable 100mph approach.
Would they have given up dribbling and dominance to wait or would they have responded with their usual weapons and, therefore, with high aggression and the attempt to take possession and control of the match? The answer, at least from the point of view of intentions, was immediately available. In fact, from the first minutes Fiorentina raised their pressing line, pitching their tents in Atalanta’s half of the field. No management, so to speak, but play as if the 1-0 in the first leg hadn’t existed. That was the idea. It is no coincidence that within five minutes the Viola had already knocked on Carnesecchi’s door. One with Nico, and one with Belotti.
But football, as we know, is made up of a lot of logic but a lot of episodes. And so a rebound was enough to send it towards goal Koopmeiners and to bring everything back into balance. And luckily that immediately afterwards the VAR canceled out the 2-0 in Scamacca because it would have been something very similar to a knockout right. High pace, all-out duels, clashes were expected, and so it was. A first half that was more like Premier League than Italian football, with the Viola playing better but the Nerazzurri more dangerous overall. An old problem for the Italian team, often incapable of transforming what they have built into opportunities (and therefore goals) and, on the contrary, giving away too much when the others attack. Just think of Milenkovic, and the unwatchable intervention that cost him the red card at the start of the second half. At that point, Fiorentina didn’t need a feat.
Moreover. Without a center forward (Italiano made up for his inferiority by inserting Quarta in place of Belotti and Duncan in place of Beltran), with Mandragora lowered to the defensive line, Nico in the middle of the field and Koume alone up front. A sort of 5-3-1, for a match that at that point had become almost exclusively one of resistance. Then Fourth, the goal of illusionthe crazy 2-1 of Scamacca and, in the 95th minute, the score was 3-1 Lookman and the seal of Pasalic. Extremely painful dicks, which will be hard to react to.
