Rome (AFP)
Fiorentina blew up a “heavy caliber” surprise when it beat its host Napoli 5-2, after the extension of “original time 2-2”, in an exciting match, which saw three red cards at the “Diego Armando Maradona” stadium, while Milan needed the extension against Visit Genoa to win 3-1 and qualify for the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup in football.
Fiorentina was the first to score through Serbian international Dusan Vlahovic with a left-footed shot from close range, following a pass from Ricardo Sabonara (41), but Napoli responded quickly after three minutes through Belgian international Dries Mertens with a right-footed shot from inside the area after a pass from Andrea Betania (44).
Fiorentina suffered a painful blow by expelling Polish goalkeeper Bartomy Drangowski for blocking the North Macedonian Elif Diamond solo outside the “45 + 2” area, forcing his coach, Vincenzo Italiano, to remove Ghanaian midfielder Joseph Alfred Duncan to push goalkeeper Pietro Terracano.
At the time Napoli rushed at the beginning of the second half in search of the winning goal, Fiorentina got a free kick outside the area, so defender Cristiano Biraghi hit it, but it bounced back to him from the human wall, so he set it up for himself again and hit it with his left that hit the right post and hugged the net “58”.
And deprived the right post, the Mexican international substitute, Herving Lossano, to equalize by returning his powerful ball from close range (80).
Lossano was sent off four minutes later, after resorting to the video assistant referee (VAR) technique due to a strong interference on Argentine Nicolas Gonzalez (84).
Napoli’s ordeals increased by expelling its Spanish international midfielder Fabian Royce, after he obstructed the French alternative, Jonathan Iconet, the moment he started solo in a counterattack “90 + 2”.
But the southern team managed to equalize in the last sixth minute of stoppage time when Betania took advantage of a cross pass inside the area that Mertens played with his heel in front of the goal, so he followed it with his right into the net, forcing the extension.
Lorenzo Venotto gave Fiorentina the lead again with a right-footed shot from inside the area after a pass from Moroccan Youssef Maleh “105 + 1,” before the Polish international Christoph Piontik dealt the final blow to Napoli by scoring the fourth goal for Fiorentina with a left shot from inside the area after a pass from Venotti “108”. And Maleh strengthened the fifth goal with a left-footed shot after a pass to Ikone «119».
Fiorentina compensated for its resounding loss against its host, Torino, by a clean four, on Monday, in the twenty-first stage of the league.
Milan reached the quarter-finals with a narrow victory over its guest Genoa 3-1 after the extension (original time 1-1).
Genoa, whose training is supervised by former AC Milan star Andrei Shevchenko, was the first to score through the Norwegian Leo Ostegaard in the 17th minute, and Milan waited for the 74th minute to equalize through its French international striker Olivier Giroud.
The two teams went into the extra halves, and Milan had the last word, thanks to the goals of the Portuguese internationals, Rafael Leao (102), and the Belgian Alexei Salmakers (113).
It is the second time that Shevchenko has faced Milan since he received the technical management of Genoa, after he lost to him at home 0-3 in the fifteenth stage of the league on the first of last December.
Fiorentina and Milan joined Atalanta, who was the first to qualify for the quarter-finals, by defeating its guest Venezia 2-0 on Wednesday in the opening price of the final.
The final price competitions, which were played by the first eight clubs in the standings of last season, after being exempted from the first and second rounds, will be completed next week with confrontations in which the chances of the major clubs appear strong to reach the quarter-finals.
The defending champions Juventus will play with Sampdoria, and Lazio will play with Udinese next Tuesday, while the champions Inter Milan will meet with Empoli, and Sassuolo will meet with Cagliari on Wednesday, and the final price will conclude next Thursday with Roma meeting with Lecce, the only representative of the second division clubs.
It is noteworthy that Juventus is the record holder in the number of titles in the competition with 14 titles, the last of which was last year, against Roma, which won nine titles, the last of which was in 2008, while Inter Milan and Lazio share third place with seven titles each, against Napoli and Fiorentina “6”, Milan and Turin “5”. .
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