Fiorentina came from a goal down at Stadio Artemio Franchi to defeat Roma 2-1 on Saturday, despite Stephan El Shaarawy taking the lead for the visitors. The second half started in a similar fashion as the first as Fiorentina dominated possession. Jose Mourinho looked to stabilize the defense with a host of changes. However, the Viola would be rewarded for their persistence as they found two late goals through Luka Jovic and Jonathan Ikone to complete a dramatic comeback.
El Shaarawy Opens Roma Scoring
Roma were far from full strength here, whilst Fiorentina put out a heavily rotated side after their 2-1 defeat against Inter in the Coppa Italia final midweek. Both teams have now shifted their focus to respective European finals but Roma would still have been in with a chance of finishing in the top-four if they had won here.
The hosts had the better of the play throughout the first half but it was Roma who took the lead through El Shaarawy. A long ball over the top from Chris Smalling found Andrea Belotti down the left before the Italian forward found Ola Solbakken at the back post with a lovely clipped ball in. Solbakken kept his composure to head back towards El Shaarawy who finished from close range.
The Giallorossi came close to doubling their lead as a ball from Smalling set up yet another good opportunity. El Shaarawy was involved once more too as he found Georginio Wijnaldum. The ball eventually fell to Solbakken who shot on goal but it was cleared off the line by the Fiorentina defense.
The hosts struggled to create much as the first half came to a close, despite controlling possession, as El Shaarawy remained the biggest threat for the visitors. Goalkeeper Michele Cerofolini had to make a couple of decent stops from range to keep the score at 1-0 at the break.
Mourinho Shuts Up Shop
Mourinho went all out to protect his narrow lead in the second half, replacing El Shaarawy with full-back Zeki Celik at the break. He amplified that further by introducing Bryan Cristante for Wijnaldum on the hour mark and later by replacing Solbakken with Roger Ibanez.
Jovic had a good chance after the Roma defense were caught out following a quick corner. Diego Llorente did just enough to stop the goal with a last-ditch tackle. Aleksa Terzic found Nikola Milenkovic with a good cross from the left soon after but Mile Svilar made a comfortable save from the header.
Fiorentina Late Double Completes Comeback
The hosts finally managed to make the most out of all their possession as Jovic drew the scores level at 1-1 late on. Rolando Mandragora found the forward with a header across goal before the Serbian finished from close range.
Fiorentina would continue to threaten from crosses and would go in front just three minutes after the equalizer with a dramatic goal from Ikone. A Terzic cross was met by the head of Christian Kouame before the ball managed to find Ikone who then put the ball home into the bottom left corner to secure a 2-1 victory.
The defeat ends Roma’s hopes of finishing in the top-four but victory in the Europa League final could see them still qualify for the Champions League. Three points for Fiorentina means very little in terms of their season standings but their display of strong character and fight to win the game will bode well for them in their Europa Conference League final coming up.