Fiorentina Advances to Conference League Semifinals with 2-0 Victory Over Viktoria Plzen

Fiorentina beat Viktoria Plzen 2-0 and reached the semifinals of the Conference League, the third European club competition. At the Artemio Franchi Stadium, the path to victory and qualification was opened by the goal of the Argentine national team forward, Nicolás González, who unlocked a complicated match against the Czechs in extra time.

From the beginning, the Italian team sought to break the zero in the series since they tied goalless in the first leg. Goalkeeper Martin Jedlicka was the figure of his team and he showed it in the first intervention after 5 minutes when he blocked Andrea Belotti at point-blank range. The purple team was more than its rival and once again Jedlicka was the hero of the Czechs after deflecting a shot from Christian Kouamé in the 29th. In the next one, Belotti himself hit a header and the ball hit the post. Before going to half-time Kouamé had another chance, but the ball hit the crossbar.

Already in the second half, Fiorentina continued searching, although they did not have the same intensity as the first half. Cadu’s expulsion in the 66th minute in Viktoria Plzen was not taken advantage of by the local team and given the tie, the 30-minute extra time had to be played.

Nicolás González celebrates his goal and is followed by Lucas Martínez Quarta (REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini)

At the start of the first half of extra time came the first goal involving two Argentines. At 91 minutes, after a corner kick from the left, Lucas Martínez Quarta (entered from the bench) won from above and Nico González lowered it with his left foot and after a half turn he took a right-footed shot that hit the corner top left and overcame the resistance of the Czech goalkeeper.

It was the eleventh goal of the former Argentinos Juniors attacker in 35 games played in the season in which he also provided four assists. Since his arrival at Fiorentina in July 2021, González has an accumulated 33 goals and 18 assists in 116 games.

The Argentine’s conversion gave Fiorentina peace of mind, who then took advantage of the spaces left by Viktoria Plzen to be able to finish him off. At 107 minutes Jonathan Ikone made a frenetic run from his field and gave it to Cristiano Biraghi who scored the second and decorated the result to the delirium of the typos who accompanied his team.

With the victory, Fiorentina entered the semi-finalists and in the next instance will play against Brugge from Belgium. The Italian team’s first game will be away and will close again at home. In the other key appears the Aston Villa del Dibu Martínez, who excelled in the tie against Lille, in France. The English team will face Olympiakos from Greece. The first match will be in Birmingham and the second in Piraeus. The final will be played on May 29 at AEK Athens’ Agia Sofia Stadium and has a capacity of 32,500 spectators.

2024-04-19 03:07:00
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