Fiorentina drew 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Thursday night in the Europa League round of 32 first leg encounter.
Nacer Chadli gave Spurs the lead with a penalty in the first half before Federico Bernardeschi’s 35 yard deflected shot equalised for the Viola in the second.
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Fiorentina
Ciprian Tatarusanu – 6 – Decent
Made a fine save from a Eriksen from distance in the first half but dived the wrong way for Chadli’s penalty.
Nenad Tomovic – 5 – Reckless
Gave away the penalty for Spurs’ first goal, as he tripped Davies inside the area after losing his balance. Didn’t offer a lot going forward.
Gonzalo Rodriguez – 6 – Solid
Dealt well with the threat of Chadli and controlled his back line well. Should have won the game right on full-time, heading just wide from a cross from the right.
Davide Astori – 6 – Strong
Along with Rodriguez the former Cagliari centre-back didn’t have a lot to do but defended well went called upon.
Marcos Alonso– 6.5 – Involved
Got forward well from the left-back position and put in a fine cross which lead to a half chance in the first half.
Tino Costa – 6 –Effective
Teamed up with Valero in front of Fiorentina’s back four and kept things simple without creating anything of note. Substituted off after 67 minutes for Matias Vecino.
Borja Valero – 6 – Vital
The Spaniard is always a crucial player for the Viola but failed to produce his usual performance and didn’t supply the Fiorentina forwards with any chances, but did work hard with pressing, especially in the second half.
Jakub Blaszczykowski – 5.5 – Lively
Had a shot blocked early on and put a sublime cross in just before half time for Zarate but nothing came of it. Substituted off on the hour for Kalinic.
Josip Ilicic – 6.5 – Intent
Set up Bernardeschi with a glorious chance on the half hour, floating in a cross from the right but the youngster failed to finish the chance. Substituted off on the hour for Milan Badelj.
Federico Bernardeschi – 6 – Screamer
Will be very disappointed he failed to give his side the lead on 32 minutes after totally mis-controlling a cross from Ilicic with the goal at his mercy. Made up for that in the second half with a screamer from 35 yards which got a deflection before beating Vorm in the Spurs’ goal.
Mauro Zarate – 6 – Tried
Made some good runs to create space for his teammates but shot over from inside the box just before the half-time whistle when he should have done better.
Substitutes
Nikola Kalinic (62 mins) – 5.5 – Target
Occupied the two centre-back when he entered the pitch and it seemed to open up space for his teammates as the Viola pressed for the winner in the second half.
Matias Vecino (68 mins) – 5.5 – Worker
His fresh legs in the middle of the park seemed to boost the home side as they pushed hard for the winner late on.
Milan Badelj (60 mins) – 6 – Press
Was brought on for Ilicic to add some steal in the Viola engine room and it seem to work as the home side took over control of the game in the second half.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com