Fiorentina, bitter Conference: Olympiacos champions (and Turin out of Europe)

Fiorentina, bitter Conference League: Olympiacos champions in extra time

Fiorentina mocked for the second time in a row in the Conference League final, beaten at the last minute by Olympiacos of Athens on the Greek pitch, the final result 1-0 thanks to a goal from El Kaabi three minutes from the end of the second extra time after a balanced game, with perhaps more opportunities for the Hellenic team. The home team starts strong, first chance in the 4th minute with Podence shooting from the edge to the bottom right corner, Terracciano saves with a dive. Milenkovic scores from a corner kick but is offside, goal disallowed in the 9th minute. Fiorentina again in the 20th minute, Bonaventura shoots from a central position inside the area and the shot is blocked by the Greek defense, he tries again and Tzolakis stops it. In the 25th minute Podence heads it and Terraciano blocks again. In the 40th minute El Kaabi tries, the Viola goalkeeper saves again.

In the second half Kouamé wasted in the 69th minute served by Nzola, Tzolakis sent it into the corner. In the 80th minute Iborra came close to scoring with a header from a free kick, the ball went just wide. The minutes pass without any particular opportunities on one side or the other, in the 90th minute there are seven minutes to recover but even with the extra-large extension the result is not broken and we go to extra time. In the fifth of the first of these it is Olympiacos who becomes dangerous with Jovetic with a right-footed shot, once again it is Terracciano who leaves the result at 0-0 and we go to another 15 minutes of extra time.

In the 110th minute Ikoné shoots, Tzolakis blocks and the defense sweeps. It is at the end of the second extra time, three minutes from the final whistle, that Olympiacos scores thanks to El Kaabi, a VAR check validates it and Fiorentina is mocked for the second time in a row in the European competition, despite the additional 5 minutes of injury time after the VAR was appealed.

Fiorentina knocked out: no Conference League for Torino

Fiorentina sees their dream of winning the Conference League fade away in the final (for the second consecutive year) and this is bad news for Torino too. Urbano Cairo’s club had in fact finished the championship in ninth place and hoped to enter Europe next thanks to a possible Viola success in the match in Athens. In the event of success against Olympiacos by Vincenzo Italiano’s team, Toro would have qualified for the next Europa League.

So next year the Italian teams will qualify for the continental competitions: Inter, Milan, Atalanta, Juventus and Bologna in the Champions League, Roma and Lazio in the Europa League and Fiorentina in the Conference.