Fiorentina v Juve: Last Gasp Mutu

By: Martha | October 7th, 2007

Come back here, you little shit. The noise inside the Stadio Franchi must have been deafening for Juve — their fans weren’t allowed to travel, and the place was completely packed with rabid Fiorentina fans who nearly lost their collective minds when Mutu (barely) put away his late penalty to secure a point.

The Viola opened the match comfortably controlling possession, but they failed to make much of it, with Franco Semioli, Adrian Mutu and Giampaolo Pazzini failing to link up effectively, and long balls over the top going for naught (over and over and over again). Apart from a spectacular near-miss by Mutu from long-range, Juve rarely looked troubled. By the same token, Sebastian Frey — sporting a snazzy new haircut — was relaxed in the Fiorentina goal until Juve scored just before the 30-minute mark, thanks to a defensive mix-up: The ball was headed back to surprise-starter Vincenzo Iaquinta on the edge of the area, and he intelligently slotted the ball home rather than giving into the temptation to try to rip it through the net.

In the second half, Cesare Prandelli went balls-out, sending on Christian Vieri for Kuzmanovic, playing Bobo with Mutu and Pazzini for the first time (I think), and leaving his team with about 14 attacking players on the pitch. The result was a crazily open half: The Viola were pouring forward, and Juve turned around and eagerly attacked all the space in the Fiorentina end every time they too possession of the ball. Both teams played a lot of pretty, one-touch football, flashing their skills, but only Frey was really busy in goal, tipping one shot over and making a couple of good reflex saves low. Pavel Nedved gradually came into the game as the half progressed, and his passes were making Juve look more and more threatening. Luckily for the Viola, though, The Tinkerman took him off just as he was getting his teeth into things, and the threat was somewhat disrupted. Whew.

Fiorentina were throwing everything forward to get a goal and, finally, it worked: In the 88th minute, Bobo unleashed a powerful header from the edge of the area, and Nicola Legrottaglie knocked it down with his arm. Doh! As he does, Mutu stepped to the stop and put the penalty away, though Buffon guessed right and just missed making the save. Things got ugly from then until the final whistle, with wild tackles flying in everywhere, and Bobo and Giorgio Chiellini getting into a shoving match about something, but no reds were handed out and it ended 1-1, probably a fair result for both sides.