Fiorentina fall to the lottery of penalty kicks

By: Francesco | May 1st, 2008

After hearing news that Zenit St. Petersburg had demolished Bayern Munich 4-0, La Viola had to like their chances if they reached the final. However, they could not surpass the final hurdle. Fiorentina quite simply dominated the game (15 shots on goal), but they could not finish for anything. Rangers sat back for 120 minutes and absorbed the Fiorentina pressure, but La Viola could not get the ball past goalkeeper Neil Alexander.

Here’s the game summary:

First Half: Fiorentina dominates, can’t finish. Rangers sit back and defend.

Second Half: Fiorentina dominates, can’t finish. Bobo Vieri comes on, he can’t finish. Rangers sit back and defend.

Extra Time: Fiorentina dominates, can’t finish. Bobo Vieri still can’t finish. Rangers sit back and defend, Cousin gets a red card for headbutting (it was more of a “head-touch”) Liverani.

Then it came to penalties. Barry Ferguson stepped up and Frey made an awesome save, and it looked like it would be Fiorentina’s day to triumph again. Kuzmanovic stepped up and cooly slotted home. Rangers next kicker (I think Whitaker) scored to make it 1-1. Montolivo stepped up and fired it home to make it 2-1. Rangers next kicker (probably Papac) stepped up and put off Frey, making it 2-2. Liverani stepped up and hit it low to the right, and Alexander saved it. Hemdani then made it 3-2 for Rangers. Bobo Vieri then stepped up. Bobo, who almost always just rockets his penalties into the upper corner, attempted to do the same this time around, but he blasted it over the bar. Nacho Novo then stepped up for the win, and he scored to send Rangers to the UEFA Cup Final. Maybe Mutu was the next in line to take one, but I really wondered why he didn’t step up to take a penalty.

After Novo’s penalty, Fiorentina’s players were distraught. Kuzmanovic put his shirt over his head and shed some tears. Frey took off his gloves and tossed them angrily to the ground. Vieri just put his head down and looked like he would shed some tears as well.

It was a rough way for La Viola to go out of Europe, but this is what we call in Italian “La Dura Legge del Gol” (the hard rule of the goal). You can have all the possession in the world, but if you don’t score you can’t win. And that’s what happened tonight.

Now Fiorentina will look to concentrate on qualifying for 4th place in these last 3 games. If they miss out on that as well, it would really be a disappointing end to the season for Prandelli’s men.

Fiorentina-Rangers 0-0 (2-4 on PKs)

Fiorentina: Frey; Jorgensen, Ujfalusi, Gamberini, Gobbi; Liverani, Donadel (Kuzmanovic 41), Montolivo; Santana (Semioli 94), Pazzini (Vieri 78), Mutu

Rangers: Alexander; Broadfoot, Weir, Cuellar, Papac; Novo, Hemdani, Thomson, Davis (Novo 81), Ferguson; Darcheville (Cousin 64)