Fiorentina 2-1 AC Milan: Hosts stun champions with victory on emotionally charged night in Florence

Fiorentina stunned the champions AC Milan with a 2-1 victory in their Serie A clash on an emotionally charged night in Florence.

On the five-year anniversary of the death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori, the home side were highly motivated from the opening kick off.

When Milan did have the ball, they were running for their lives from the ultra aggressive Fiorentina press which left their backline under huge stress throughout. However, it was a case of bend, not break for Milan who somehow made it to the break with their clean sheet intact.

That changed mere moments into the second half when Jonathan Ikone was awarded a penalty following a poor Fikayo Tomori tackle.

The referee had no choice but to award a penalty and Nicolas Gonzalez stepped up to put his side ahead with a cheeky chipped spot kick.

Both sides had their chances but neither could land a decisive blow.

Milan were awarded a penalty with 10 minutes to play, but VAR intervened to overrule the onfield decision and cancel the spot kick.

Luka Jovic sealed the victory with a spectacular diving header in the 87th minute, putting a perfect Dodo cross past Mike Maignan.

Theo Hernandez netted a consolation goal five minutes into stoppage time for the visitors, but it was never going to be enough to salvage a point.

Talking point – Is this the way to beat Milan?

The champions had been on an excellent run of form, winning four consecutive matches without conceding in all competitions, but were battered in Florence.

Their back three were matched man for man by an aggressive approach from Fiorentina, cutting off service to the wing-backs who were forced to drop deeper and deeper in search of possession.

Milan’s two midfield playmakers were overwhelmed by the pressure and never able to get time and space to play the ball forward.

The obvious caveat here is the absence of Rafael Leao. Fiorentina were perhaps only confident in pressing so high up because the Portuguese wing wizard was absent through suspension.

Player of the Match – Sofyan Amrabat

This was a victory built on sweat and graft as much as skill and no player better exemplified that than the Moroccan Amrabat.

Only Fiorentina’s defenders made more touches and the midfielder played plenty of incisive forward passes, pushing his side’s attacks forward again and again.

But it was his work without the ball that really inspired the victory.

He made six blocks and countless recuperations of possession, frustrating Milan and repeatedly breaking any momentum the champions had managed to build up.

Tireless running, smart positioning and smart passing, it was a perfect holding midfielder’s performance.

Player Ratings

Fiorentina: Terracciano 7: Dodò 7, Martinez 6, Igor 7, Biraghi 7; Bonaventura 7, Amrabat 9, Mandragora 6; Nicolas Gonzalez 7, Cabral 7, Ikone 6. Bench: Ranieri N/A, Barák N/A, Castrovilli, Jovic 7,Sottil N/A.

Milan: Maignan 7; Kalulu 6, Thiaw 7, Tomori 5; Messias 6, Tonali 5, Bennacer 5, Theo Hernandez 6; De Ketelaere 5; Rebic 5, Giroud 6. Bench: Adli N/A, Bakayoko 4, Saelemaekers N/A, Ibrahimović 6, Origi N/A.

Match highlights

90′ GOAL MILAN Theo Hernandez launches an absolute rocket to reduce the arrears late in this match.

86′ GOAL FIORENTINA A fantastic team move ends with a diving Luke Jovic header which doubles their lead and seals three points.

79′ NO PENALTY The video replay shows that the perceived handball was definitely not a handball.

67′ DODO INCHES AWAY A clever run from the Brazilian bamboozles the Milan defence and only Maignan denies Fiorentina a second goal.

48′ GOAL FIORENTINA Nicolas Gonzalez steps up and converted with a cheeky chip.

47′ PENALTY FIORENTINA Ikone races into the box, and Tomori clatters into him to concede the spot kick.

33′ GIROUD TESTS TERRACCIANO A difficult chance for the Frenchman but he gets his attempt on goal.

26′ HOW HAVE FIORENTINA NOT SCORED? A fabulous passing move from Fiorentina ends with Bonaventura on the penalty spot but desperate sliding tackle from Tomori clears the trickling shot off the line.

Key stats

Fiorentina: 11 – This victory was no fluke. Fiorentina piled on 11 shots from inside the Milan box and anything other than three points would have been a travesty.

Milan: 15 – Olivier Giroud managed just 15 touches of the ball in the nearly 80 minutes that he was on the pitch. That was almost half as many as the next fewest touches of any starting player. Teams can’t win if their striker never sees the ball.