Viola: Oh the Humanity!
(And it only got worse from here.)
Fiorentina played incredibly well last night -- they made the stadium full of supporters proud, dominating the match and outshooting Rangers 29-7. And it wasn't the boring kind of domination they had in the first leg, where they kept the ball but couldn't think of anything to do with it -- the Viola were lively in front of goal, making great runs for one another and pulling off a lot of very pretty, one-touch passing. Granted, they also had their fair share of crappy passes, but it really was the performance of a very good team, and sort of heart-warming to watch.
The problem with a match like that, though, is that the longer you go without scoring, the scarier it gets, and the more likely it becomes that a mistake is going to kill you. And it did, in this case two mistakes: Liverani had his PK saved, and Bobo hit his over, and that's all she wrote. (Santana and Pazzini, both normal penalty-takers, had gone off, so Bobo and Liverni stepping up to take their places. Which was brave of them, really. *sniff*)
It was heartbreaking, there were tears. But now there's the little matter of a CL spot to be secured, so everyone's had to move on right quick to get ready for Sunday's match, or at least they damn well better have done so.
Fiorentina 0 - 0 Rangers
Rangers win 4-2 on pens (R: Whittaker, Papac, Hemdani, Novo; F: Kuzmanovic, Montolivo)
Fiorentina: Frey; Jorgensen, Ujfalusi, Gamberini, Gobbi; Liverani, Donadel (Kuzmanovic 41), Montolivo; Santana (Semioli 94), Pazzini (Vieri 78), Mutu
Rangers: Alexander; Broadfoot, Weir, Cuellar, Papac; Novo, Hemdani, Thomson, Davis (Novo 81), Ferguson; Darcheville (Cousin 64)
Sent Off: Cousin 110 (R)
All of Florence was decked out in purple and white for the occasion.
As was this giant pile of little kids who were on the pitch before the match. No idea who they are.
The Della Valles were also on the scene. (Poor Andrea looked like he was crying after PKs, but he bucked up quickly and got pleasingly philosophical.)
The place was sold out, the tifosi were awesome (as usual).
There were more on edge than usual, there was a lot of whistling on the rare occasions that Rangers actually tried to keep the ball.
I'm never going to get over that backdrop. Never.
Serious business time.
Gambit's pose = foreshadowing.
Let's talk about Gambit, shall we?
The defense spent the great majority of the match watching, to be honest.
But when he wasn't watching, Gambit was fantastic -- he made two perfectly timed tackles to keep Darcheville out, and generally ran things in the back.
He even found some time to get forward and raise a bit of hell in the Rangers box.
Ujfi, really, mostly chilled.
He defended well when called upon and had a shot go infuriating close late in the game. *sigh*
On the wide right was The Great Jorgy, as usual.
He defended impeccably, and got forward well, too.
He was, however, having trouble with his accuracy -- his crosses in the second half always went over the box, and his shots kept going miles over the goal.
Stil, he ran his legs off for two hours, and contributed a lot to Fiorentina's control of the match. (He also cried afterward, which is an awful thing to have to see.)
On the other side it was Gobbi over Pasqual again.
He looked amazing and was just unstoppable in the first half -- doing little Monty-style touches and tricks.
(Sadly, there are no pictures of him.)
Donadel started and was playing well, but something weird happened to his ankle, and he went off early.
(Has a bad feeling about all this.)
Kuzi was his replacement and is in no pictures. He was alright, started to create more toward the end. Oh, and made a PK!
Liverani started out well, controlling the midfield as Rangers sat back.
And contorting himself in odd ways.
Then he got Cousin sent off by responding rather dramatically to a nice, affectionate headbutt.
(The best part of the whole thing, obviously, was the Ujfi aggro.)
HAI MONTY.
Fiorentina's best player easy, IMHO.
Just stepped up and took control of the match in the second half, if Liverani leaves, it'll be interesting to see if Cesare tries him on the middle of the pitch and makes the team play through him even more.
"What, you mean like over there? Interesting idea, if that baby Serb doesn't come to Florence, I will try it!"
Even though Pubes is back fit, Santana and his new ninja skills got the start again.
I actually thought he was pretty good -- especially in the first half, he was doing a lot more with his ability to beat the defense than he has in a while.
Same old problem, though, with the lack of a decisive final ball. (Still, he was better. Much better.)
I'm not really sure what to say about Pazzini.
He worked very hard, and I'd say he was much less anonymous than he was in Glasgow a week before.
Still not able to impose himself on a match, though, which is what he's going to have to do, someday.
("Oh my nose!")
He and Mutu had some really nice interchanges but, sadly, nothing ever came of them. WOE.
Bobo came on for him with about 10 minutes left, like he often does.
His first touch involved falling over when the ball landed at his feet right in front of goal. It was to get worse from there.
Oh, Adi.
He really did a lot of good things, just not enough of them.
I'm a total sucker for how good and smart his passes are, me. He's shockingly unselfish for someone who, you know, is named Adrian Mutu.
Things just kept falling apart at the last second, though, right before the last touch.
He had an absolutely perfectly struck shot off a cleared corner, only to have it deflect off a defender and go out of bounds.
He did not whine, but looked more and more exasperated as the match went on, esp when the ref didn't give a FK right at the end of regulation, when got dragged down.
(Ballet skillz.)
"Oh, you did NOT just step on my new boots."
(Just FYI, Seb made a truly miraculous save right at the end of extra time. Ally McCoist was in the middle of congratulating Walter Smith on the win when he realized it hadn't gone in.)
Cesare: Sees PKs coming and is very, very concerned.
They started out so well, with Seb saving the first Rangers attempt.
And then Kuzi and Monty both made theirs, and Monty celebrated so perfectly that I will love him forever. Probably.
(Before things went wrong.)
But Seb stopped saving Rangers' shots.
And then Liverani stepped up to take his.
Yeah.
It was saved.
"FUCK."
Fiore were down 2-3 when Bobo stepped up to take his.
It went over.
And not just a little over.
God, poor Bobo.
Utter misery.
*pats him*
So, Seb had to save from Novo to keep the shootout going.
(He didn't.)
God, here come the really awful pictures.
*goes to get tissues*
Jorgy's blank stare + Ujfi taking off his armband = total heartbreak.
Thanks to Ruby (and her secret Gambit love) for this one.
Yeah, they still lined up and shook Ranger's hands when they left the pitch. Jorgy's eyes were all red. *sniffle*
Right, so: Away to Cagliari Sunday. Away games are scary, no matter who they're against, and Cagliari are playing well. Also, there's still no word on what's wrong with Donadel's ankle, while poor Bobo seems to have hurt himself shooting his PK over, and will be out.
Warning: I'm traveling the next three weeks, so the spams, while still coming, will probably be less prompt that usual. Apologies in advance for that.