Welcome back Fiorentina! (1 Viewer)

Zlatan

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2003
23,049
#1
Welcome back Fiorentina!
Sunday 20 June, 2004

Ten-man Fiorentina have returned to Serie A after a very tight play-off victory over Perugia, who slide back down to the second division.

It is a welcome comeback for the Viola, who were relegated in 2002 and declared bankrupt soon after. Businessman Diego Della Valle created a new club called Florentia Viola that started from Serie C2.

They earned promotion and bought back the name AC Fiorentina at auction, but the expansion of Serie B last summer saw them included in the new 24-team division due to “sporting merit.” A sixth-place finish qualified them for this play-off and it is Perugia who go down.

The Stadio Artemio Franchi was a sea of purple as the second leg of this promotion play-off was sold out, with Viola legend Gabriel Batistuta also in the stands.

Perugia needed a victory in order to keep hold of their top flight status and were able to field Fabrizio Ravanelli and Marcelo Zalayeta despite injury worries.

Fiorentina were without star strikers Christian Riganò – who was unable to recover from a thigh strain in time – and Zisis Vryzas, so Enrico Fantini again started upfront after he had scored the winner at the Stadio Curi.

Perugia were most dangerous from Ze Maria’s trademark set-pieces, then the Brazilian took advantage of a William Viali error only for goalkeeper Cejas to recover.

Fiorentina's only real chance of the first half saw Zeljko Kalac palm out an Ariatti cross-shot.

The deadlock was eventually broken in Fiorentina’s favour at the dawn of the second half and just like the first leg it was an Enrico Fantini header. Christian Maggio skipped past both Christian Manfredini and Fabiano until his deep cross found the head of Fantini from six yards.

Perugia needed to score two now in order to avoid sliding into the second division, so Franco Brienza was thrown on to give them more firepower. It proved a crucial substitution, as on 58 minutes Fantini petulantly hacked him down after losing the ball and received his second yellow card.

The Grifoni poured forward and were furious when Viali supposedly held down Fabrizio Ravanelli as another Ze Maria free kick was floated into the box. White Feather claimed he should have had a penalty for a shirt-tug soon after, but his appeals were again waved away.

Englishman Jay Bothroyd came on for the closing stages, but it was substitute Do Prado who gave Perugia hope of an extraordinary comeback with eight minutes left on the clock. The Brazilian midfielder rifled in a long-range strike at the near post to take Cejas by surprise.

With 2-1 victory at the Stadio Franchi, Perugia would have won the play-off on away goals, so the final stages were extremely tense, but Fiorentina held on through four minutes of stoppages to seal their return to the cream of Calcio.

Next year’s 20-team Serie A is now complete, while Cesena and Crotone won their play-offs to enter Serie B, joining League winners Arezzo and Catanzaro.

Last night Venezia won their play-out 2-1 on aggregate to send Bari down to Serie C1.

Fiorentina 1-1 Perugia (2-1 on agg)

Scorers: Fantini 47 (F), Do Prado 82 (P)

Fiorentina: Cejas; Maggio, Delli Carri, Viali, Savini; Ariatti, Scaglia (T Manfredini 51), Piangerelli (Di Livio 89), Fontana, Camorani (Graffiedi 61); Fantini

Perugia: Kalac; Coly, Di Loreto, Fresi (Do Prado 67), Fabiano; Ze Maria, Obodo, C Manfredini (Brienza 49), Di Francesco; Zalayeta, Ravanelli (Bothroyd 74)

Ref: Rosetti

Sent off: Fantini 58 (F)



http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jun20k.html
 

Buy on AliExpress.com

Hydde

Minimiliano Tristelli
Mar 6, 2003
38,703
#2
Welcome back!!! jejeje


The 2 clubs i was cheering to return to serie A made it!!


This is a really good news!!
 

Juventino

Senior Member
Jul 27, 2002
1,015
#3
if not next years Roma games wasn't enough now also another one
(I don't think I have to mention Inter, will always be a tense game)!!!

Moggi an Co. arm JUVE to it's teeth, this season we have to do much
better against the big teams...

With Perugia failing to keep their serie a spot Juve will lose as well.
As I have been informed we had made a deal with them that if they
are still in Serie A for next season 2-3 of the players from the youth section
would be joining Perugia on loan...
 
OP

Zlatan

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2003
23,049
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #4
    How long do you think it will be until Gaucci starts screaming how the match was fixed and until he sues?
     

    BigIzz

    Senior Member
    Jul 12, 2002
    1,088
    #6
    I generally don't care about other clubs but what happend was very unfair to many and it is nice to see Fiorentina back where they belong.
     
    OP

    Zlatan

    Senior Member
    Jun 9, 2003
    23,049
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #7
    Altho Fiorentina should have been in Serie C1 this season, and not in Serie B
     

    Hydde

    Minimiliano Tristelli
    Mar 6, 2003
    38,703
    #10
    Im veru sure tht he wants to come back... but we woill have to see if they will doa deal or not...and to check bati´s condition first :)
     

    River

    Senior Member
    Jun 15, 2004
    2,261
    #11
    What the hell. They're back already.

    I thought they were banished to obscurity. Surely enough years havent passed for them to be back in A.
     

    #10

    Senior Member
    Jul 28, 2002
    7,330
    #17
    nice to have the back...big up to Di Livio....what a man...legend.

    Do u kno what, if we got relegated and bankrupted, viola fans would be happy, and when we come back, i dont think they share the joy we have of the rivals returning.....the viola have lost the "most hated" team mantle to juve fans......Roma have it now!
     

    Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)