For a long time, Fiorentina was a candidate for European qualification – even the Champions League wasn’t entirely unrealistic – but as the season draws to a close, the ambitions of the club from Florence are dying down. All the teams at the top of the Italian Serie A have been dropping points in recent weeks, but none as much as Vincenzo Italiano’s team, which seems to have forgotten how to win. Since the end of February, they haven’t managed to come out on top against anyone, and the trend of poor results continued at the Artemio Franchi in the 32nd round against Genoa – 1:1 (0:1).After their fifth consecutive stumble in the league, Fiorentina remained in tenth position with 44 points, seven fewer than sixth-placed Atalanta, while Genoa sits in 12th position with 39. Alberto Gilardino’s team could have gotten closer to tonight’s opponent on the table after their visit to Florence, as they briefly held the lead, but in the second half, they ‘fizzled out’, which the home team knew how to punish. With Thursday’s rematch in the Europa Conference League quarterfinals against Plzen looming (first leg ended 0-0), Italiano significantly shuffled the deck for tonight’s match and left three regular defenders – Nikola Milenkovic, Dodo, and Cristiano Biraghi – on the bench, without whom the hosts looked quite vulnerable in the first half. After a not particularly eventful start to the match, Genoa had two very good chances through Caleb Ekuban in the middle of the first half. However, Pietro Terracciano first denied him, and then after a corner, the Ghanaian forward missed the entire goal.At the end of the first half, Genoa managed to capitalize on their better play, although the last line of Fiorentina significantly helped them in doing so. Martín Cáceres sent a catastrophic pass backward to Luka Ranieri, Junior Messias intercepted it, and after Terracciano denied him a clear chance, Fabio Parisi was late with the tackle, conceding a penalty that Albert Gudmundsson converted into a goal. However, Genoa’s lead didn’t last long because Fiorentina quickly showed a reaction, and about ten minutes after returning from the break, they equalized through Jonathan Ikone for the final score. SERIE A – MATCHDAY 32Friday Lazio – Salernitana 4-1 (3-1)/Anderson 7, 35, Vecino 14, Isaksen 87 – Tchaouna 16/Saturday Lecce – Empoli 1-0 (0-0)/Sansone 89/Torino – Juventus 0-0Bologna – Monza 0-0SundayNapoli – Frosinone 2-2 (1-0)/Politano 16, Osimhen 63 – Cheddira 50, 73/Sassuolo – Milan 3-3 (2-1)/Pinamonti 4, Lauriente 10, 53 – Leao 20, Jovic 53, Okafor 84/Udinese – Roma – suspendedInter – Cagliari (1-0)/Thuram 12, Calkanoglu 74 – Shomurodov 64, Viola 82/Monday Fiorentina – Genoa 1-1 (0-1)/Gudmondsson 42 – Ikone 54/21:45: (1.47) Atalanta (4.30) Verona (7.00)***odds are subject to change***
