Cagliari expels Florence, scoring Kilicsoy and man-market Palestra
Cagliari beat Fiorentina 2-1 away at the Franchi in the match played late Saturday afternoon and valid for the 22nd round of the Serie A championship. It was the second consecutive success for the islanders, who after beating Juventus further improved their ranking by approaching the top 10 positions, while the Viola interrupted their four-game unbeaten streak, remaining third-last. Before the whistle blew Fiorentina once again honored the memory of President Rocco Commisso, who passed away last week.
The Viola’s start seemed scorching: Gudmundsson came close to scoring after 2′ then Dodô s’invaded the box and after a contact asked for a penalty, but did not find the whistle of referee Guida. Instead, Cagliari made itself dangerous on the restart and on 31′ unlocked the game with Kilicsoy, who received Palestra′ s cross and finished into the net, beating De Gea. Fiorentina reacted but Piccoli was inaccurate and when Gudmundsson seemed to have found the right opening Caprile was alert. The first three-pointer ended with the red-blues ahead by one goal to zero.
The resumption opened almost immediately with Cagliari’s doubling: it was scored by one of this winter session’s man-marketers, Marco Palestra, who at 47′ closed a quick restart in a winning way. The violets reacted, Vanoli played the cards Fabbian, Harrison and Brescianini and it was the former Atalanta man who reopened the match at 74′, Zé Pedro on Dodô’s cross. From that moment on, it is purple siege: chances for Brescianini and Piccoli in a nervous finale (Mina, Zé Pedro and Comuzzo were cautioned within five minutes), but the result does not change anymore, Cagliari wins 2-1.
On only one other occasion in this league had Cagliari won two matches in a row: it happened in September, with 2-0 victories over Parma at home on the 13th and 2-1 over Lecce away six days later. The islanders, moreover, had not won away from home since Dec. 27, when they won 2-1 over Torino.
As for Fiorentina, on the other hand, today’s is their first defeat of 2026, after successes against Cremonese 1-0 and Bologna 2-1 interspersed with a 2-2 draw at home to Lazio and a 1-1 draw at home against AC Milan. The Viola also return to losing a home game for the first time since Dec. 14, when it was Hellas Verona that went through at the Franchi, winning 2-1.
