Conference League: Fiorentina - Puskas Academia ends with a score of 3-3

Fiorentina drew 3-3 with Hungarian guest Puskas Akademia in the first leg of the Conference League qualifiers in the end.Bold art Viola immediately fell behind by two goals in a shocking 12 minutes, then managed to turn the result around, and eventually suffered a comeback from the visitors.

Now the return leg in Hungary next week will be crucial to qualify for the group stage of the competition, which it has lost in the final for the last two years.

A first half full of errors and almost everything was forgettable for Rafael Palladino’s side.Fiorentina, who in his first match as coach in Europe, made three fundamental changes compared to the expectations of the previous day: Baresi in defence instead of Biraghi, Bianco in midfield instead of Amrabat, Beltran in central attack instead of Kean. Eight minutes and the French referee Delagode awards a penalty to the Hungarian for a clear foul inside the area by Kayode on Nagy: for a slow movement from Bianco’s back pass towards his teammate, as well as the intervention of the Viola defender who goes for goal. The ball with a lot of satisfaction. The penalty that the captain Nagy himself converts. Four minutes and Puskas doubles the score: Kayode commits another mistake with a pass in the middle of the field, recovered by Ormond-Auteuil who immediately starts a counterattack for the Hungarians by quickly releasing Soisalo, who enters the area from the right and with sharp diagonal strikes De Gea. For almost the entire first half, the Viola team made many mistakes in their style of play, and at times they looked like a confused team.

However, in the latter half, they managed to become more prominent.In the 42nd minute, Bianco shot a great long-range shot but the ball rebounded into the top corner. In stoppage time (47 minutes) Fiorentina managed to reduce the deficit: Sotil received the ball inside the area and shot, placing the ball in the bottom right corner of the Pecce where the goalkeeper could not reach it. At the beginning of the second half, Palladino leaves Kayode and Beltran in the dressing room to bring on Dudu and Kean.

The viola band starts again with a different, more proactive attitude.. In search of an equalizer. In the 52nd minute, Kean came close to scoring, sent into the penalty area by Quarta after an individual move, but his diagonal shot hit the feet of Picchi who sent the ball out for a corner. In the 56th minute, Palladino also played Ikone’s card for Colpani. In the 53rd minute, Fiorentina came close: the ball went out of the penalty area at the corner, Dudu shot from the outside but missed the target. In the 65th minute, a great chance for Fiorentina: a header from Sotil, Ikone appears alone in front of the goalkeeper and shoots backwards. The goal is close. And it arrives in the 67th minute: from a corner kick, Quarta heads the ball from the center of the area and puts it in the net for 2-2. Two minutes and Fiorentina will also have a chance to go ahead: Sotil sends Ikone to goal who sees Kean alone in the center of the area but the Frenchman’s pass is too strong and an incredible opportunity is wasted.

In the 75th minute, Fiorentina succeeded in making a comeback.: Ikone recovers the ball in midfield and sends it inside to Kane who quickly enters the area and unleashes a diagonal shot that goes to the right of Pichi to make it 3-2. But Puskas did not give up and in the 80th minute they came very close to equalizing with a header from close range from Nessila and a great intervention from De Gea who turned the ball out for a corner. However, everything was born from a mistake on the way out by Viola. The equalizer came inside the box and came in the 89th minute with a header from Gola who jumped unhindered into the middle of the area after a corner. Four minutes into stoppage time the French referee Delagode blew his whistle. Everything was postponed until the return to Hungary.

Palladino: “The Wrong Position”

“We had a bad start, with big mistakes that I don’t even see in training. We did well to get back into the game and come back with team spirit, then we got the equaliser from a free-kick and there is regret, we can’t concede a goal like that, obviously I wanted to win and I thought we could win, we are behind, we are fragile, we need to. Analyse everything and understand that in these games we have to go out on the pitch in the right way, the responsibility also falls on me”, said Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino after the 3-3 draw at home to Puskas Academia in the first leg of the Conference League playoffs.

“I ask the players to give more, and the club to help me, there are players missing in defence, in midfield, on the wings, I know they work 24 hours a day, but we knew that with so many players.” Changing the starting line-up will be difficult, as the team was assembled in a few days, and I would like to see the solidity of my team, which I don’t see, we are a compromise and it is useless. “We will do better first,” added the coach, who arrived in Florence from Monza this year.