Fiorentina’s manager has been savaged by his own fans for his Juventus links and ill-conceived words but beating his old club may prove a turning point for him

They remember the wins over Juventus, down in Florence. They remember them for the goals: for Gabriel Batistuta’s header beyond Angelo Peruzzi and the Giuseppe Rossi hat-trick that helped convert a 2-0 deficit into a glorious 4-2 victory in 2013. They remember them because they hate Juventus, those entitled ‘thieves’ and ‘hunchbacks’ from Turin. Most of all, though, they remember the wins over Juventus for the simple reason that they don’t come along very often.

Heading into Sunday’s showdown at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, Fiorentina had beaten the Bianconeri just once in their previous 17 league meetings. There’s a reason why this rivalry never generates the same heat up in Piedmont. As Leonardo Bonucci put it in the runup to kick-off: “For them it’s the match of the year. For us it’s just another match like all the others.”

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Paulo Sousa is familiar with that mindset. The Fiorentina manager lived the other side of this fixture as a player: a fact which his current team’s supporters have not forgotten.

His appointment in the summer of 2015 was met with open hostility, which has continued to bubble away ever since. As recently as November, signs were hung outside the stadium defining Sousa as “Gobbo di merda” – hunchback piece of shit – and calling for him to resign after he suggested that the club’s brilliant young No10, Federico Bernardeschi, would eventually join a club with greater ambitions.

Some have accused Sousa himself of simply biding his time in Florence as he waits for the Juventus job to come open. At his pre-match press conference, he found himself fielding questions about whether he might become the Old Lady’s next Mister.

He sidestepped those and sought to play down the importance of any individual fixture, even while acknowledging that this one meant more than most. His eagerness not to put pressure on his players was apparent from his deeds even more than his words. Instead of having the team spend the night before the game together at the same hotel – as he had done on other big occasions – Sousa sent them home to relax.

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With hindsight, it seems obvious that he would prefer them to step away and recharge their batteries. Sousa knew that he would need every last ounce of energy at their disposal.

Three teams had beaten Juventus in Serie A previously this season – Inter, Milan and Genoa – and their successes had certain key traits in common. Most obviously, those victorious teams had all been playing at home. In every instance, they also caught Juventus at a good time – coming off midweek involvement in cup competitions. Crucially, all three took advantage by setting a fierce tempo early on and pressing Juve’s players high up the pitch.

The schedule delivered the first two conditions for Fiorentina (though they, too, had played in the Coppa Italia on Thursday night), and Sousa made sure that his players came good on the third. Juventus were rocked immediately back on to their heels as the Viola tore into them. When Nikola Kalinic finally swept an elegant finish across Gigi Buffon in the 37th minute, it felt like the least they deserved.

Fiorentina had not only outmuscled Juventus, but outmaneouvred them as well, the champions repeatedly failing to pick up Matías Vecino’s runs from deep despite deploying a back three with only one opposing centre-forward to marshal. The champions ought to have been at their most solid, with the BBC finally back together after an injury-disrupted start to the season, but instead they found themselves in disarray.

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Massimiliano Allegri’s choice of a 3-5-2 was, in fairness, partly borne out of necessity, with Stephan Lichtsteiner’s suspension, Dani Alves’s injury and Patrice Evra’s seemingly imminent departure depriving him of three out of four full-backs. Still, that alone cannot excuse such a meek performance from the champions.

Juventus did finally start to show signs of life just at the end of the first half, but Fiorentina struck again early in the second. Federico Chiesa insisted that this goal was his, but even with countless replays, it was hard to discern what contact he made on a Milan Badelj ball forwards from deep that hopped into the bottom corner of Buffon’s net.

Gonzalo Higuaín responded quickly with a goal to halve the deficit, and Juventus piled forwards as the clock ticked down. But an equaliser never arrived. On another day, they might have been awarded a penalty for the Marko Pjaca cross that was interrupted by Gonzalo’s hand, though the defender appeared to be pulling his arm into his chest when the ball struck, rather than deliberately extending it.

Fiorentina’s supporters would no doubt contend that they were due some fortune in this fixture regardless. Those inside the stadium erupted at full time with even greater enthusiasm than they had shown in celebrating the Giancarlo Antognoni, the “Only No10”, during their grand pre-match coreografia.

There was no one individual who stood out above the rest in this performance. Bernardeschi, the man who now wears that shirt, was typically lithe and lively in his role behind the attack, whilst Vecino was a menace stepping up from midfield and Kalinic struck his third goal in four matches against Juventus. This one might prove to be his last, with reports of a Chinese move getting louder.

But the real star of this victory was Sousa, who got every big decision spot on – right down to his deployment of Carlos Sánchez – typically a midfielder – on the right of a back three. The Colombian wound up winning more tackles and intercepting more passes than anybody else on his team.

Perhaps this will prove to be a turning point in the manager’s relationship with his team’s supporters. This result does not undo Fiorentina’s poor start to the season (the Viola remain eighth, 11 points outside the Champions League places) any more than it derails Juventus’s title charge (although the Bianconeri’s lead has been trimmed to one point, they retain a game in hand against Crotone), but league standings are not always the only thing that matter.

They will remember this win over Juventus, down in Florence. Just like they do all the others.

Talking points

• A telling comment from Giorgo Chiellini at the end of that Juventus defeat: “Last year we had Pogba, who was the LeBron James of football and who made an impression even when you did not notice it.”

• Cheesiest celebration of the week belonged to Dries Mertens, who blew steam on the TV camera and then drew a heart after scoring against Pescara. But Napoli’s more improbable new goalscoring star is centre-back Lorenzo Tonelli, who broke the deadlock here and now has two goals in as many games for the club – after having grabbed the winner against Samp last weekend.



• After his purple patch early this season, Edin Dzeko’s form has tailed off badly over the past month-and-a-half, and he made some astonishing misses on Sunday – not least among them a penalty which might still be on its way back down to earth. Roma claimed a 1-0 win at Udinese regardless, but Luciano Spalletti’s remarks about the striker at full-time raised a few eyebrows. “I know what type he is,” said the manager. “Every now and then he is a soft player, and tell him as much.”

• Fourteen games. That is all Roberto Gagliardini had played in his senior career at Atalanta before Inter agreed to splash more than €25m on him (once all the bonuses are worked out) this January. And clearly it’ll take a while to know whether he’s truly worth it, but it has to be said that he looked good against Chievo this weekend. A long, rangy midfielder, he stepped right into Inter’s starting line-up and behaved as though he’d been there for years. He was paired with Geoffrey Kondogbia at the base of midfield in a 4-2-3-1 on Sunday, and if Stefano Pioli can strike the right balance between them, a lot of opponents are certainly going to struggle with their combined size and athleticism. Inter, by the way, have now won five league games in a row.

• Mauro Icardi extended his lead atop the Serie A scoring charts, and now has 15 league goals on the season. Not since Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Christian Vieri have Inter had a striker who hit that mark for three consecutive seasons.

• Lazio are keeping right on up with what is becoming a compelling chase for the Champions League places as well. With a win over Atalanta on Sunday, Simone Inzaghi now has the best points-per-game return (1.925) of any Lazio manager in Serie A, and of any current manager in the division.

• Domenico Berardi is back at last from his almost five-month injury layoff, and not a moment too soon for Sassuolo. He set up a pair of goals in what became a 4-1 win over Palermo, putting 11 points between his team and the relegation zone.

Results: Cagliari 4-1 Genoa, Crotone 0-1 Bologna, Fiorentina 2-1 Juventus, Inter 3-1 Chievo, Lazio 2-1 Atalanta, Napoli 3-1 Pescara, Sampdoria 0-0 Empoli, Sassuolo 4-1 Palermo, Udinese 0-1 Roma.