That Other Cup: Viola March On

By: Martha | December 21st, 2007

Mutu pointing at his people A largely first-choice Fiorentina side defeated Mladá Boleslav (the team that knocked Palermo out) 2-1 in their final UEFA Cup match yesterday, tying up second place in Group C and confirming their place in the draw for the knockout stage.

From the sound of reports, the match was a bit ragged, with the Viola having an early penalty shout denied and Franco Semioli and Giampaolo Pazzini failing to make the most of first-half chances. The Viola also had issue with the referee on several occasions, including a harsh offside call that wiped out a goal, and a second possibly penalty. Eventually, though, they broke through when Pazzini was brought down in the area for the second time, and this time was awarded a PK. Adrian Mutu put it away with a sick chip, and the Viola went into halftime up 1-0.

In the second half, Fiorentina came out lively and again had the best of the chances but failed to capitalize, falling victim to a questionable offside call and poor finishing by Massimo Gobbi and, eventually, Boleslav made them pay. The tying goal came on the hour mark from Jan Rajnoch, whose shot from distance was seen late by Cristiano Lupatelli, and he could do nothing with it. (Oh, Sebastian Frey, how we miss you.) Despite knowing a draw would see his team through, Cesare Prandelli went for the win, throwing on Bobo Vieri for the last half hour and, within five minutes, the Old Man had put Fiorentina back on top with his stellar left foot. He almost got another just a few minutes later but his effort went over, and the Viola settled for the 2-1 win.

In today’s draw for the round of 32, Fiorentina drew Norweigian side Rosenborg, who you may remember from their scoreless draw with Chelsea and pair of 2-0 wins over Valencia as they finished third in Champions League Group B. They may only be fifth in the Eliteserien right now but, yeah — not such an easy draw. If the Viola manage to beat Rosenborg (the match are February 13/14, and February 21), they’ll face the winner of SK Brann v. Everton.