Viola: Holding on to Fourth
(Balzaretti really missed his captain.)
Palermo played really well, even down a man (which is how they spend the last 20 minutes of the match), but Fiorentina got the goal they needed in the first half and worked their asses off for the rest of the game to hold the 1-0 lead.
The goal came from none other than Donadel, who had a fantastic match -- he was all eager and frenzied, and the great goal was just a bonus on top of his good day. The other contender for MOTM, as usual, was Frey who, though less busy than he sometimes is, made his usual handful of massive saves to keep out Bosko and Amauri, both of whom were irritatingly threatening.
The result means that Fiorentina keep their four point margin over Samp and Milan -- both of whom won this weekend as well -- for the last CL spot with four matches to go.
Fiorentina 1 - 0 Palermo
Donadel 29 (F)
Sent off: Rinaudo 72 (P)
Fiorentina: Frey; Jorgensen, Ujfalusi (Dainelli 31), Gamberini, Pasqual; Kuzmanovic, Liverani (Montolivo 59), Donadel; Santana, Pazzini (Vieri 73), Mutu
Palermo: Agliardi; Zaccardo, Rinaudo, Biava (Cassani 54), Balzaretti; Guana, Migliaccio (Tedesco 40); Jankovic, Bresciano, Caserta (Miccoli 59); Amauri
Ujfi's hair in pregame mode.
Everyone ogling Bosko.
Forget warming up, Bobo just wants to hang out with his friends.
And wear about 10 more layers than anyone else in the place.
See that kid staring at Seb? Totally mesmerized by his facial hair.
Donadel is feeling it already.
Look how tall Kuzi is. Mmmmm, very nice.
(The ref, for Conny.)
Gameface for Kuzi -- not even a little wink for Bosko.
Seb LOVES MEETING NEW PEOPLE.
Poor Liverani. He's a little lost.
The linesman is a little overwhelmed by all that lovely hair.
Cesare is ... blinking really hard.
As are the tifosi, on another insanely lovely night in Florence.
Just to switch things up, we'll start with Mutu.
He didn't score, but that was really the only thing he didn't do.
He got forward well, and created chances for everyone around him -- his vision is completely ridiculous.
He's one of the few people on the team who didn't look really tired for parts of the second half -- thank goodness for that injury-created rest.
He also hit the bar with a looping header, which everyone sort of stood and watched.
Plus, he's been all kinds of tough and feisty lately.
This weekend that included glowering at Pazzini and fighting with Bobo, both of which were sort of awesome, rather than worrying.
(Hai Bosko.)
Pazzini was pretty good, too -- not stellar, but he created a couple chances, and it was a foul on him that led to the sending off.
He seems to have left the standing around looking petulant behind for good, which is a very good thing.
Something he's never going to leave behind, it appears, are those tiny, tiny shorts.
I mean, I know Fiorentina wear short shorts in general, but his are crazy small.
Also, there was this. *tries not to make any noises*
Bobo came in for him late and, with his first touch, had a miss as bad as any Pazzini's ever had.
A free kick was saved right onto his left foot, and he managed to put the ball across the face of goal from seriously three yards. (He was sad.)
He recovered enough to defend a little, though, if only because Cesare was screaming at him the whole time Palermo had the ball. &hearts
"BOBO! BOBO! BOBO!" Seriously. It was like that.
Also, the shock of the miss seems to have made his hair go completely grey.
As we saw in those pregame photos, Ujfi started and was captain.
He and Gambit were handling Amauri incredibly well.
Unfortunately, Ujfi pulled a muscle and went off just 30 minutes into the match.
Dainelli came in for him, but the armband went to Jorgy instead, even though Ujfi is supposedly Dainelli's vice. Scandal!
Less scandalous but far more physically painful was the gaping head wound he picked up thanks to Amauri.
There was blood EVERYWHERE (12 stitches after the match), but he didn't care even a little.
"Yeah, it's still bleeding. Seriously. Go get that sorted out, would you? It's gross."
Oddly, with a panty on his head and freed of the weight of being captain, Dainelli played his best game in months, and against a truly great striker -- I bet he's praying he never has to wear the armband again.
Particularly given what happened to Jorgy once he put the armband on.
I thought he was great for the first half hour, but the moment he put the armband on, he immediately hit two shots that went out for throws. Yeah, that's never good.
He spent a lot of time fighting with Balzaretti, who couldn't stop Santana so he elected to go forward instead, where he caused a lot of problems.
Jorgy manned up, though, and even dove into the middle to take his turn battling Giant Amauri.
And, of course, we can't forget Gambit.
He was his usual solid, unspectacular self.
Even Amauri was grudgingly impressed.
Because Pubes is apparently dead and not just injured, Santana has permanently taken over his position on the right.
He spent the whole match battling Balzaretti, who he managed to get past about 80% of the time.
Balzaretti didn't have the quickness to keep up with him, and Santana beat him over and over, causing more problems than he has for several weeks.
That said, he did fade in the second half (as he tends to do), and also didn't defend anywhere near as well as he attacked.
But, still. He was better, which is a step in the right direction. (And, also, he hasn't done anything dodgy to his eyebrows.)
He also had one very legit-looking penalty shout, which means he was getting into danger areas (progress!).
Stop, Kuzi time. *cough* Sorry.
He got his first start in a while, in his usual spot behind Santana.
He was disappointingly quiet, at least offensively speaking.
Well, apart from when he had a great shot miraculously saved by the keeper's feet. Doh!
He defended really well, though, especially in the last 15 minutes or so, when things got very hairy.
He battled his ass off and got all kinds of scrappy, finding ways to get in front of the ball. (Or hold on to people.)
(Taking "tackle" literally.)
He also got to confuse Bosko, first chasing him ...
... And then ignoring him entirely. Take that, Bosko!
(This is the only picture I can find of Liverani. I have no idea what's going on, but I like it.)
I mention Liverani mostly because he was replaced on the hour mark by Monty (gotta rest up for Rangers!).
He was solid for his 30 minutes and defended well, which has sort of become one of his strengths recently.
He also looked quite pretty, and decided at this moment not to shave anything into his eyebrows.
Mustn't forget Pasqual.
He had a hard time with Amuari when he was running at him, but I suppose anyone would.
I have no idea if the fact that he played 90 minutes means Gobbi will play again Rangers, or if it just means Pasqual doesn't get tired and can play twice/week.
And then, of course, we have Donadel.
He picked up the ball outside the box after a clearance, and was all "Ok, I'm just gonna pass it over here."
"PSYCH!" It went just inside the post, and was pretty much unstoppable.
(Mutu had a great view of it and was very pleased.)
Prancing is hilarious on him.
Going in search of ... Kuzi.
"ZOMG I SCORED!"
"DUDE! YOU SCORED!"
Serial hugger #2 came to disrupt the moment.
Awwwwww.
Look out, Santana's here.
This was entirely Santana's doing -- he wrestled poor Donadel to the ground, so everyone could jump on him. Oh, how hard the life of a footballer can be.
The goal happened in the first half, so there was still a lot of work left to do.
Much of which, as usual, fell to Mr. Frey.
In particular, he made a double save that was pretty much impossible.
He blocked one shot and then scrambled up to get a touch on the rebound and put off the post.
Yeah, fantastic again.
Aw. Look! There's nothing better than the approval of the other team's best player.
Winnars!
WOO HOO!
(A secret Cesare squee.)
Before he got back to the slight emotional distance. "Yes, I suppose that'll do."
Thanking the tifosi, as always.
Meanwhile, there was love breaking out all over the pitch.
Bosko would like some Kuzi, please.
Amauri couldn't get enough of Seb.
Gambit is making Pasqual look like a midget.
Balzaretti is trying to get close to greatness, while Mutu is barely tolerating Miccoli.
(Balzaretti was doing a LOT of hugging -- he misses his team, even though he played about three times in five months.)
In Glasgow on Thursday to play Rangers in a little thing called the UEFA Cup Semifinals. Donadel's suspended so the midfield will probably be Kuzi, Liverani and Monty; in the back there's hope both Dainelli and Ujfi will be ready to go, but Ujfi's getting tests done today and no one knows for sure what his status will be. Ujfi's out 7-10 days. Oh DEAR.
And then, three days later, Samp come calling, which is going to be an outrageously difficult match.