UEFA Cup: Villarreal v Fiorentina

By: Martha | October 25th, 2007

Bastards. Well, damn — Bobo came within about three minutes of being a hero in Spain this afternoon. As disappointing as a draw is after having come so close to a win, though, if you’d had offered Prandelli a point before the match, particularly with the injuries the Viola are carrying, he’d surely have taken it and, painful or not, 1-1 is a great away result against this quality opposition.

I only saw about two slow minutes late in the first half, but The Man’s write-ups of the game make it sound much livelier than those few minutes, with both teams attacking confidently, and Vieri threatening the Villarreal goal with a long shot inside the first ten minutes. At the other end, Sebastian Frey was called into first half action by Milan oldboy Jon Dahl Tomasson, making a “brilliant” save and proving once again why the Viola will be loathe the let him go when the bids start coming.

Though the half ended scoreless, Fiorentina were arguably the better side, quite a compliment for a team facing opponents who just a few days ago conquered the great Barcelona. And, right after the break, the Italian side make their temporary superiority count when Bobo headed home a Mutu cross for a 1-0 lead. Prandelli made his usual trio of substitutions starting with about 30 minutes left (If I’m understanding Google Translate correctly, when Bobo came off he told the the kids on the bench he was stronger than all of them. How is it possible not to love this man?) but, despite the fresh legs, the Viola began to tire and, after Mutu had a goal disallowed for a dubious offside call, Joan Capdevila (Not, apparently, a woman.) nodded home an 87th minute Giuseppe Rossi free kick to rescue a point for the home side.

Villarreal are by far the Viola’s strongest opponents in Group C and, with the other match ending 1-1, they should have no trouble at all (knock on wood) finishing in the top three, which is all they need to do to advance to the knockout stages.

Edit: Goals are here, and the compilation is truly not to be missed — it’s backed by some kid singing We Will Rock You, and features Bobo blowing his nose in a celebration of sorts.