Conference League: Fiorentina drops a hat trick, but it’s not enough for the lead

Conference League, RFS-Fiorentina 0-3

Fiorentina beat RFS Riga, the tail-end of Group A, 3-0 away, but failed to overtake Basaksehir, victorious at the same time against Hearts 3-1. Violets and Turks ended the group stage with 13 points, but the latter took first place by virtue of their overall success in the two direct clashes. Basaksehir therefore goes directly to the round of 16, while Fiorentina will be expected to make the playoff against one of the ‘relegated’ from the Europa League.

At the NSB Arkadija stadium in Riga, however, Fiorentina was waiting for confirmations after the success in La Spezia in the last minute, finding them in a dominated first half: Antonin Barak opened the scoring with a header in the 7th minute, Arthur Cabral confirmed his good moment of form by scoring in the 45th minute the third goal in four games between league and cup and Riccardo Saponara closed the accounts in the recovery of the fraction with a splendid winning conclusion from the distance.

Much lower was the pace in the second half: with the result acquired, Italiano’s men managed the 3-0 win without risk, taking it to the triple whistle.