Moise Kean bagged a sensational hat-trick to give Fiorentina their sixth consecutive Serie A victory and put them temporarily joint top of the table, sinking Verona.
The Viola saw their run of seven consecutive victories in all competition ended by a surprise 2-1 Conference League defeat away to APOEL Nicosia on Thursday. Albert Gudmundsson and Danilo Cataldi were still nursing injuries, while Hellas were celebrating the 3-2 win over Roma. Jackson Tchatchoua and Reda Belahyane were back from suspension, though Dailon Livramento was banned instead, plus Pawel Dawidowicz, Juan Manuel Cruz and Martin Frese long-term absentees.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
It took under four minutes to break the deadlock, as Lucas Beltran threaded a through ball for Moise Kean to hold off Giangiacomo Magnani and slide the finish past Lorenzo Montipò from 10 yards. It was the Italy international’s third consecutive league game on target.
David de Gea had to palm a dangerous Darko Lazovic cross off the feet of Casper Tentgstedt, but the goalkeeper could do little when Suat Serdar unleashed a right-foot screamer from outside the D into the near top corner to draw Verona level.
Pietro Comuzzo was celebrating his first senior Italy call-up, but was left needing stitches after a cut to his eyebrow.
Yacine Adli’s free kick tested Montipò at the near post, while Andrea Colpani hit a scorcher inches wide from distance after the restart.
Fiorentina restored their advantage with that man Kean again, who held off Magnani to lift his leg and volley in an Adli corner from five yards with an acrobatic finish.
Beltran’s snapshot forced a tricky save from the edge of the box, while Montipò parried the Colpani effort with Riccardo Sottil turning the rebound over.
Kean should’ve completed his hat-trick to put the result beyond doubt on 83 minutes when Christian Kouame robbed Ondrej Duda in midfield and drew out the goalkeeper, but the Italian incredibly ballooned over an empty net from 12 yards.
Domagoj Bradaric went off for Hellas with a suspected broken nose following an accidental collision with Kean, while the Italian’s angled drive was also off target.
Kean finally completed his hat-trick in stoppages when running onto the long David De Gea ball, cutting inside the defender and drilling into the far bottom corner with the inside of the right boot.
Fiorentina 3-1 Verona
Kean 4, 59, 92 (F), Serdar 18 (V)
Player statistic
Moise Kean (Assist: Lucas Beltrán) |
4' | |||
18' | Suat Serdar | |||
35' | Diego Coppola |
54' | Suat Serdar | |||
Moise Kean (Assist: Yacine Adli) |
59' | |||
Moise Kean (Assist: David de Gea) |
90+2' | |||
Moise Kean | 90+3' |
Great news. Kean will be very useful for the Azzurri. Allegri nearly destroyed this boy’s career.