These sides were both coming off midweek victories in the Coppa Italia semi-final first legs, but their Serie A form was dire. Arkadiusz Milik was still injured, as Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa faced their former club, while it was a full squad at Vincenzo Italiano’s disposal.
Weston McKennie had the ball in the net at the sixth minute, but only after he had wandered offside.
Juve scored again on 12 minutes, but Federico Gatti came sliding on to a Filip Kostic cross and turned it onto the underside of the bar, Vlahovic meeting the rebound, but Gleison Bremer was offside and made contact on the way through.
The pair were involved again when the hosts did finally make one count, as a corner found Bremer’s looping header to bounce off the far post, then Gatti tapped in the rebound from point-blank range.
Incredibly, Juve had a third goal disallowed at the 32nd minute because McKennie was offside when he nodded down the Chiesa cross for Vlahovic to tap in from close range. This one was much closer than the other two, but caught by VAR.
Fiorentina finally threatened with Rolando Mandragora’s scorcher charged down and Cristiano Biraghi drilling the rebound just wide.
Christian Kouame moved to centre-forward after the restart, as the Viola held possession and the initiative for long periods, but Antonin Barak simply fired straight at Wojciech Szczesny with the time and space to do better.
Instead, Juve were dangerous on the counter when Kostic rolled across the face of goal and Nikola Milenkovic’s deflection was inches away from scoring an own goal.
Kenan Yildiz threatened to score with his first touch, cut off by fellow teenager Michael Kayode, while Vlahovic failed to make the most of a misplaced pass in the final third.
Fiorentina came extraordinarily close when Nico Gonzalez cut inside to bend a strike towards the far top corner, but Szczesny at full stretch managed to fingertip it onto the underside of the crossbar on 74 minutes. It was the 17th time the Viola hit the frame of the goal this season, more than any other Serie A side.
They were unlucky again 10 minutes later, as Szczesny palmed a low cross into the path of Lucas Beltran, whose shot was charged down in the six-yard box by teammate M’Bala Nzola.
Juve increasingly sat deep as Fiorentina threw everything at them, but the black and white wall held out. It opens up a four-point cushion between the Bianconeri and fourth-placed Bologna.
Juventus 1-0 Fiorentina
Gatti 21 (J)
source – Serie A | Juventus 1-0 Fiorentina: Gatti breaks the Viola (football-italia.net)
