Fiorentina secured a vital first leg lead with a 1-0 victory away at Rosenborg in the Uefa Cup.

Romanians strike earns away win

Fiorentina secured a vital first leg lead with a 1-0 victory away at Rosenborg in the last 32 of the Uefa Cup. The Italians took control of the game from the off and it came as no surprise when former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu gave the visitors the lead after just 16 minutes. Latching onto a pass from Riccardo Montolivo the Romanian made no mistake from just a few yards out, firing the ball low into the centre of the goal past a stranded Rune Jarstein. Rosenborg upped their game slightly in the second period but were ultimately unable to make the breakthrough. Ivory Coast midfielder Didier Ya Konan came closest to snatching an equaliser for the Norwegians with eight minutes remaining, but his effort cannoned back off a post and with that their hopes of pulling level all but ended. Fiorentina are by no means guaranteed to progress to the last 16 of the competition next week as a result of this win, but Mutu's solitary strike now means that they will go into the game with an all important away goal and know that they can even afford to draw and still go through.