BRUGES, BELGIUM - MAY 08: Lucas Beltran of Fiorentina celebrates scoring his side's first goal with ... [+]
Fiorentina didn’t make progression to the final of the Europa Conference League easy on themselves, that’s for sure.
La Viola left it late — very late — in order to secure a place in a second consecutive final after seeing off Belgian side Club Brugge. With Fiorentina leading from the first leg going into the second leg in Belgium, Vincenzo Italiano knew his side just needed to keep the home side at bay and they’d be booking their plane tickets to Athens.
Yet that was easier said than done. Keeping clean sheets hasn't exactly been Fiorentina’s forte this season: they’ve managed a mere four in this competition and only eight in Serie A this season, with only two of them coming in 2024. The chances were high that Brugge would score, and the question was how would the visitors respond.
Brugge did indeed score, with Hans Vanaken scoring inside the opening 20 minutes. Fiorentina did everything but score as they bombarded the Brugge goal. The tie now level at 3-3, Christian Kouame hit the bar and post and Cristiano Biraghi hit the crossbar with an exquisite free kick. Italiano tried desperately not to take the game into extra time, with an extra half an hour of football the last thing his players need after a very long season.
In the 81st minute, substitute M'Bala Nzola was kicked in the head by Brugge defender Brandon Mechele and a penalty was given. In truth, it was a harsh decision by referee Halil Umut Meler, as Nzola's head was low and Mechele’s foot wasn’t especially high, but the Turkish ref blew his whistle, and Argentine striker Lucas Beltran tucked the penalty away deep into the bottom left hand corner, a brave feat from a striker who’d missed his last five.
Fiorentina survived the inevitable late surge from Brugge and the seven added minutes of injury time to make it back-to-back finals, and the chance to right the wrongs of their final defeat a year ago to West Ham. Aston Villa or Olympiakos await the Italian side in Athens, and after having not been in a European final for 33 years, Fiorentina are in their second in 12 months.
Yet this year it means more.
The sudden passing of the club’s sporting director Joe Barone shuck the club. Barone had been an instrumental figure at Fiorentina since Rocco Commisso bought the club in 2019, and played a huge role in building Viola Park, Fiorentina’s state of the art training centre just outsider Florence, and constructing Fiorentina’s women side and developing the youth sector.
Fiorentina will want to win a first European trophy since the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1961 as much for Barone as for the club itself. In purely sporting terms, winning the trophy is also their best chance to return to Europe next season after a disappointing league campaign. Currently lying ninth in Serie A, Fiorentina’s chances of qualifying for Europe via the league remains slim.
Dependant on how many Italian sides earn entry into the Champions League next season (at present it’s five, but could be six should Roma or Atalanta win the Europa League), Fiorentina need to overtake eighth-placed Napoli to make it into the Europa League. If they remain in ninth and an Italian side succeeds in winning the Europa League, they’ll once again enter the Europa Conference League should they lose in Athens. Winning the trophy will mean automatic entry into the Europa League next season, along with Lazio.
Italiano could be prepared to move on this summer, with the 46-year-old being linked to bigger teams in Serie A. In his third season, Fiorentina have regressed slightly and there is the ‘end of a cycle’ feel to Fiorentina this year, and thus winning a trophy would be the perfect way to sign off.
They haven't made it easy and shredded the nerves of their fans once too often, but Fiorentina are in another final.
