Serie A | Fiorentina 1-2 Cagliari: Palestra inspirational in relegation battle

Cagliari surprised a Fiorentina side in mourning with a second consecutive victory, as Marco Palestra scored one and assisted another for Semih Kilicsoy.

They were on a strong spell of form, unbeaten in four, beating Cremonese and Bologna around draws with Lazio and Milan. Moise Kean continued to struggle with an ankle injury, joining Fabiano Parisi and Tariq Lamptey on the treatment table, but new signings Jack Harrison and Giovanni Fabbian were eager to impress, and Roberto Piccoli faced his old club. The Sardinians were fresh from a surprise victory over Juventus, missing Alessandro Deiola, Michael Folorunsho, Andrea Belotti and Mattia Felici.

This was the first home match since the death of President Rocco Commisso, who was honoured before kick-off with the youth academy players presenting white roses, a video of his greatest moments at the club, and a minute’s applause.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Albert Gudmundsson’s right-foot finish flashed just wide in the opening 60 seconds, while Marin Pongracic deflected a Marco Palestra strike inches past the near post.

Cagliari took the lead with a rapid counter-attack, as Ze Pedro sent Palestra down the right, his cross was whipped to the back post, where a deflection off Pietro Comuzzo made the Semih Kilicsoy header impossible for David De Gea to reach.

Moments later, Elia Caprile flung his body in the path of Gudmundsson’s solo effort from point-blank range, while Piccoli fired wide.

Giovanni Fabbian made his Fiorentina debut after the restart, just days after his transfer from Bologna was completed.

However, it was Cagliari who doubled their lead with a perfect counter-attack, moved from left to right until Palestra placed his angled drive into the far bottom corner from 13 yards. It was his first ever Serie A goal.

There was almost a third on the counter from a poor free kick routine, as Luca Mazzitelli rolled across for Semih Kilicsoy, but Cher Ndour deflected the finish over the bar.

Jack Harrison made his debut after the transfer from Leeds United, and Gudmundsson was unlucky not to get one back when his right-foot curler from outside the area clipped the outside of the post.

Fiorentina did manage to score with a new signing, as Marco Brescianini got in front of Ze Pedro to tap in the Dodo low cross-shot at the back post from six yards.

Suddenly the Viola were fired up and pushing to equalise, as Yerry Mina acrobatically cleared a Brescianini header off the line, then Caprile made a desperate save on Fabbian’s volley.

Mina was decisive again with a sliding tackle to prevent Piccoli tapping in from six yards on the low Dodo roll from the right.

It was De Gea who made a big save in stoppages, getting down one-handed on the Gennaro Borrelli angled drive.

Fiorentina 1-2 Cagliari

Kilicsoy 31 (C), Palestra 47 (C), Brescianini 74 (F)