As a result of M’Bala Nzola taking advantage of defensive lapses to award Spezia a point, Fiorentina saw their winning streak in all competition come to an end at nine games. Josip Brekalo and Cristiano Biraghi came so close to winning.
After 19 minutes, Nzola had the ball in the net after Kelvin Amian tested Pietro Terracciano from a distance, but Emmanuel Gyasi was clearly offside for the assist. Instead, Cristiano Biraghi intercepted a careless pass, raced forward on the break, and his pull back from byline took a deflection off Wisniewski to slither in at the near post. Fiorentina now had the lead.
When Bartlomiej Dragowski made a long clearance that bounced awkwardly, Spezia equalised with some classic route one football. Because Igor and Terracciano failed to seize the initiative, Nzola did and scored.
After the referee blew the whistle for a push, Arthur Cabral hit the crossbar spectacularly with an overhead kick. Josip Brekalo nearly scored his first touch off the bench by slamming the base of the near post while Lucas Martinez Quarta headed a Dodo cross straight at Dragowski.
Ethan Ampadu also brought Brekalo down just outside the box, which was a punishable offence. Nico Gonzalez then narrowly missed connecting with a diving header from close range. Biraghi’s free kick was deflected out of the near top corner by a last-ditch fingertip save by Dragowski, who also managed to kick it clear to stop anyone from pounced on the rebound.
With the exception of a few dangerous Tio Cipot counterattacks, it was all Fiorentina trying to win as Spezia’s yellow cards piled up. Luka Jovic was set free by Brekalo’s through ball, and his dinked attempt from a tight angle flashed across the goal face and just wide of the far post.
Eldor Shomurodov should have won it for Spezia in the waning seconds after an Igor mistake, but his feeble attempt at a lob essentially served as a backpass to Terracciano.
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