Fiorentina have dumped Liverpool out of the UEFA Champions League after beating Lyon 1-0 on Tuesday.
La Viola secure last 16 berth & knock out Reds in process
Fiorentina have dumped Liverpool out of the UEFA Champions League after beating Lyon 1-0 on Tuesday.
Juan Vargas' 29th minute penalty proved the difference in Florence as Cesare Prandelli's Italians booked their place in the last 16 of the competition at the expense of Rafa Benitez's five-time winners.
The Reds did their bit on the night after a 1-0 win in Hungary against Debrecen, but the Premier League giants were hoping Group E rivals Lyon would do them a favour in avoiding defeat on their travels.
And Claude Puel's French side did everything they could to claw back an equaliser, but they were denied by the heroics of Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastien Frey, who pulled off a number of crucial saves in the second half to secure the famous win.
The result means that a Europa League place now beckons for Liverpool , while Lyon and Fiorentina march into the next phase of Europe's premier competition.
Nervy
The hosts looked nervy in the opening exchanges, but they soon rid themselves of the jitters as they struck both posts in a manic two-minute spell.
La Viola's first chance arose in the 10th minute via Vargas' cross on the left which found Mario Santana on the edge of the penalty area and the attacking midfielder controlled the ball gracefully on his chest before lashing a superb right-foot volley at goal.
Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was well beaten, but the left post denied Santana a stunning goal before a quick reaction save by Lloris saw the French shot-stopper tip the ball behind for a corner after expertly denying Alberto Gilardino .
From the resulting set-piece, Gilardino was in the thick of the action again as the Italian international rose above the French defence to head towards goal, but he was denied by the right post and Lyon, and more importantly Liverpool, could breathe easily again.
The Reds were ahead in Hungary through David Ngog's early strike but the tannoy at Debrecen's stadium announced a goal at the Artemio Franchi and it was the hosts who were ahead.
Stone-wall Penalty
28 minutes were on the clock when Fiorentina winger Marco Marchionni left Aly Cissokho for dead in the penalty area following an incisive long-ball by midfielder Riccardo Montolivo.
Cissokho attempted a ball-winning challenge, but instead the Lyon left-back clipped the ankles of the Italian wide-man and Portuguese official Olegario Benquerenca had no qualms awarding La Viola a penalty.
Up stepped the confident Vargas and the Peruvian international made no mistake as he sent Lloris the wrong way en route to smashing the ball into the top-left corner of the net.
The goal saw the otherwise lumbering Lyon wake up and they sent out several warning signals to the Fiorentina goal, with midfielder Miralem Pjanic shooting wide with a couple of long-rangers either side of half-time.
The beginning of the second-half ebbed and flowed and possession was being shared between the two sides, but it was Fiorentina who looked the most threatening.
Squandered chances
Gilardino squandered a decent chance in the 54th minute before Cissokho made amends somewhat for his penalty foul when he made an inch-perfect last-ditch tackle to deny Santana, who was one-on-one with Lloris four minutes later.
Lyon went in search of an equaliser as they brought on Lisandro Lopez, Cesar Delgado and Ederson while Fiorentina shut up shop and were happy to settle for a 1-0 as they sent defensive midfielder Marco Donadel onto the field.
But it was Pjanic who looked the likeliest to level proceedings as his speculative free-kick on 80 minutes had Fiorentina goalkeeper Frey beating the ball away awkwardly but it did the trick.
Frey had to be at his best six minutes later as he got in the way of Jean II Makoun's goalbound effort before Fiorentina were hanging on by a thread as Lisandro and Cris failed to find a significant touch on a Pjanic delivery.
Frey was Fiorentina's saviour again as he denied Lisandro's ferocious strike in stoppage-time and it proved the decisive save as Fiorentina secured their passage into the last 16 at the expense of five-time winners Liverpool.
| Fiorentina |
Team Statistics |
Lyon |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
Shots on Target |
5 |
| 8 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 1 |
Blocked Shots |
5 |
| 4 |
Corners |
4 |
| 20 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
4 |
| 3 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 65.4 |
Passing Success |
77.7 |
| 30 |
Tackles |
21 |
| 66.7 |
Tackles Success |
81 |
| 41 |
Possession |
59 |
| 48.5 |
Territorial Advantage |
51.5 |
|
