Fiorentina in Conference League semifinals: a draw with Celje is enough at the Franchi

For the third consecutive year, Fiorentina qualified for the Conference League semifinals. After the 2-1 win in the first leg, in fact, the Viola managed to stop Celje at 2-2 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, thus winning the doubleheader with an aggregate score of 4-3.

After an excellent start, the hosts found the goal of the lead at 36′: Pongracic showed up in the offensive zone and found the feed for Mandragora, who with a winning diagonal shot made Silva dead. Late in the half, Celje came close to equalizing with Delaurier, but De Gea was good at taking refuge in the corner.

The resumption began in the worst way for the Viola, who conceded the equalizing goal in the 54th minute from Matko, who was good at slipping between Comuzzo and Parisi and beating the lily-livered extreme defender. Galvanized by the goal, the Slovenians continued to push and in the 66th minute the goal of the lead also arrived with Nemanic who soared higher than anyone else on the corner kicked by Seslar.

The joy of the lead, however, was not lost on the Slovenians.

The joy of the lead, however, lasted very little, as three minutes later Fiorentina brought the qualification back on its side thanks to the usual Kean, who thunderstruck Silva with a perfect shot on the turn.

On 77 minutes, the Viola also found the knockout blow with Ranieri, who took advantage of an empty exit by Silva to deposit the ball into the net. The VAR, however, nullifies everything for offside position keeping Celje’s hopes of qualification alive.

In the final minutes, the Slovenians threw themselves into a desperate search for the goal that would be worth extra time, but the hosts did well to defend the equalizer until the final whistle, gaining access to the Conference League semifinals for the third consecutive year.

In the next round, Raffaele Palladino’s team will face Betis Sevilla, which defeated the Poles of Jagiellonia with a 3-1 aggregate.