All easy for Viola, all black for Doria.
– Sampdoria’s season, dramatic from every point of view, was perhaps already over after the comeback suffered at home against Cremonese in early April, from 2-1 to 2-3 in the final minutes. That match, which was followed by draws against Lecce and Spezia, had extinguished any residual hopes of returning to the fight for salvation, hopes that the victory against Verona had revived only for a moment a few weeks earlier. It is easy to perceive this situation in this game played against a technically superior opponent: Stankovic’s team played a disciplined first half, but fell behind just before the break and crumbled in the second half;
– Fiorentina’s change of pace in the second half had a big impact. The Viola, who started with a “seaside” formation (debut for the third goalkeeper Cerofolini, Duncan, Sottil, Jovic and Ranieri relaunched from the first minute) play a first half of the match at a contained pace, even if they keep the game firmly in hand. Some superficialities behind, some small errors forward, the Italian team does not sting until the recovery of the first half, when Castroville finds the billiard shot that beats Ravaglia and splits the game;
– Gaetano Castrovilli returns to scoring in Serie A after 494 days, a lifetime ago. He hadn’t scored since December 2021, when he allowed the Viola to recapture Verona at 1-1. In between, a very serious injury and a long hospitalization that returned him to Italiano only in January of this year. Curious is the curtain in the first half of Italiano, who, addressing the security personnel, referring to him after an incorrect unloading, exclaims: “he could be in the desert with a pole and he would be able to hit him”. Instead Gaetano hits the door, with a goal that seals his return to good levels, already seen by weeks of comforting performances. He is an extra precious weapon for the final rush of the Viola;
– In the second half, Fiorentina simply spread. Dodô, Duncan, then Kouame, finally Terzic make the result even maramaldo compared to the Dorians, who moreover had already lost Léris due to injury in the half hour, badly replaced by Djuricic in the role of screen in Amrabat. They all score, but not Luka Jovic, who packs two and a half assists in the second half and revives after an apathetic first half. In today’s goleada, perhaps he most of all would have needed to finish in the scorer’s table;
– For Sampdoria, relegation is now a concrete prospect to say the least. And especially for Stankovic it becomes really difficult to make sense of these last races, try to motivate players already almost condemned on the field and aware of leaving in June. On the other hand, the sky is clear at Fiorentina: a victory that puts more confidence in the tank of a healthy team. And if the championship is no longer really an objective (the Viola rise to eighth place, but at -10 from Atalanta), arriving at the decisive cup evenings with morale at the maximum can only do good.
The article Scattered considerations post Fiorentina-Sampdoria (5-0) comes from Sportellate.it.