Away from home, Fiorentina defeated Cremonese 2-0 in the first leg of Coppa Italia semifinals. Cabral and Gonzalez scored for La Viola. Cremonese went down to ten men.
After the weekend loss to Atalanta by a score of 3-1, Davide Ballardini made two adjustments to his Cremonese team. Sarr took over in net for Marco Carnesecchi, and Vasquez took over for Lochoshvili in the middle of the defence.
Meanwhile, Vincenzo Italiano made three adjustments to the Fiorentina team that defeated Inter 1-0. Amrabat took Bonaventura’s place on the field after the latter had scored in the victory. Gonzalez took the place of Riccardo Saponara on the left wing, and Barak was chosen over Castrovilli to play behind the striker.
The first solid opportunity of the contest was created by the opposition, and it might be appropriate to head it. Before Ikone entered the box, Barak and Ikone combined effectively down the right. As he attempted to divert the rebound on goal, Sarr made excellent saves on his effort.
The first substantial opportunity of the game was the Cremonese response. Tsadjout received the ball with grace and moved it to his left boot before shooting across goal. Terracciano beat him to it, but his shot also beat the left post and drifted just wide.
Gonzalez expertly chested down a long ball from Quarta and gave it to Cabral. The striker handled it well, but Sarr sprawled to block his crisp shot, which went just wide of the post.
The first 20 minutes belonged to the away team, who also scored through Cabral. The corner was initially cleared by Cremonese, but after it was recycled, Biraghi sent in a tempting cross, which Cabral rose highest to flick home across goal and give Fiorentina the lead.
Fiorentina had a fantastic opportunity, and they ought to be leading by two goals. Gonzalez received another excellent cross, this one from Ikone on the right, but the winger could only head the ball straight at Sarr, who made a superb reaction save. Gonzalez was unable to direct the rebound on goal, which was a critical error for the visiting team.
From inside their own half, Cremonese launched a long free kick up the pitch. Tsadjout successfully flicked on a header to win the ball, but none of Cremonese players were able to recover it, allowing Fiorentina to clear.
Fiorentina started the second half where they left off in the first—victorious. Ikone dashed down the right and cut in on the left, but his shot missed the post by a hair. Gonzalez attempted to score from Biraghi’s cross, but his header lacked the force to trouble Sarr in Cremonese goal.
Cremonese showed the first signs of life, and it was the stand-in Dessers. He picked up the ball far from the goal, but he beat the Fiorentina defence by getting jinxed inside and out. He had a chance to score, but he shot right at Terracciano, who stopped it in its tracks with a strong hand.
Another chance, and Dessers had unquestionably changed things since entering the game. The forward moved the ball inside from the left wing to Buonaiuto, who initially mishandled it but quickly recovered to poke a shot at goal, which Terracciano stopped with a superb save.
When Sarr stopped Cabral’s header, Fiorentina came close to scoring. Another opportunity was created by the opposition in the box; the follow-up shot was stopped by Aiwu, but replays revealed it had struck the defender’s hand. Aiwu was dismissed for the handball on the line and Fiorentina was awarded the penalty, reducing Cremonese to ten men. Gonzalez makes no mistakes as he steps up and rolls the ball into the goal, sending the keeper the wrong way.
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