 28-07-07, 11:10 PM | #215 (permalink) |
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 Torino - Fiorentina 16th of March 2008 Stadio Olimpico, Turin Italian Serie A 2007/2008; Week 28     33' 45'  Elvis Abbruscato, 45+2' Roberto Stellone - 61'  Alexander Farnerud, 62' Marco Donadel 71' Luca Toni  Match Highlights (4:31)
Chaos in middle of second half outshone Elvis Abbruscato's brilliant return to the Torino team as two Fiorentina players got sent off in space of 20 seconds, Alexander Farnerud for kicking Cedric Konan who just came on and Marco Donadel for hacking down Silva for his second yellow.
Torino's Sunday evening opponent wasn't going to be easy in Week 28 as they met Fiorentina who were trying to save any chances for title in this tight season in top of the table as they had fallen behind of the group of leaders.
Previous tie had ended in a thrilling 2-2 draw, but both sides have had slumps and rises since that, but Torino was certianly in hotter form even without Simone Padoin, Antonio Di Natale and Simone Barone. Torino's chances in this home tie were certainly boosted even more by the return of Silva and club top-scorer Elvis Abbruscato.
It took some tie for teams to get into the game on the wet pitch and Roberto Stellone's free-kick from 25 metres which flew wide, was the only chance of the game for nearly a half of the first half.
Though the game finally kicked off in terms of chances when Roberto Stellone got Andreollis long pass as he then shrugged off few challenges before having his low shot saved by Frey.
Stellone got another Andreolli's pass minutes later, this time with a head though, and laid it forward for Elvis Abbruscato who hit the bar with goalkeeper Sebastien Frey beaten.
Frey minute later brilliantly got his hand to direct Gabriel Tamas long-range effort over the crossbar and minute later Alexander Farnerud saw his free-kick fly wide at the other end.
Torino was dominant in the first half though and got the goal three minutes after clock had reached half hour as Alessandro Rosina's corner-kick was headed in by Elvis Abbruscato at near-post.
 Short corner to Abbruscato at near post proved it's worth again
And just before the time started ticking past 45 minutes, Torino got almost copy-paste goal as again Abbruscato headed in Rosina's corner at near post, even-though it was little more further from goal this time. It was marksman 20th league goal and put him back at top scorer position despite missing over 6 games this season and going out on early on few more.
This wasn't the last of the half though as Farnerud curled over before Rafaele Schiavi's clearance found Roberto Stellone beating the offside trap and smashing the ball in at near post to put Torino on comfortable 3:0 lead.
Second half started as slow as first and Torino finally got themselves a scoring chance on 57th minute when Nikola Lazetic's cross was headed towards the net by Stellone, but it was denied by flying Frey.
Minutes later Elvis Abbruscato curled a strong effort towards the Fiorentina goal which was beated away again by Fiorentina's only savior, Frey as Alessandro Potenza cleared the ball for a throw-in.
And chaos came after that to Fiorentina side. Torino's substitute Cedric Konan, who came on for Stellone, couldn't even be on pitch for few seconds before falling into a heated argument with Swedish international Farnerud, who couldn't keep himself calm as he hit the Ivorian and it immediately got noticed by the referee.
While Farnerud got sent off, another substitute Cecilio Velazquez continued the game for Torino, but just ten seconds later, Marco Donadel hacked down Torino's Brazilian talent Silva and received his second yellow card.
Fiorentina couldn't calm down and Manuel Pasqual and Alessandro Potenza got also booked for horrific tackles on Granata players. Torino stayed calm in the situation, even-though it was very close to turning into a fight on Olimpico.
Game got back to normal soon and Silva made a great short run on the edge of the Fiorentina area before sending a brilliant shot towards the near top corner, but Frenchman Frey was at his best and kept it out with brilliant save.
Silva scored his debut goal against Fiorentina earlier this season and was getting more and more into the match as his pass set free Elvis Abbruscato, who found himself move to shoot in box, but his low effort was brilliantly denied by full-stretched Frey.
Fiorentina got a surprise consolation goal minute later as Potenza's long pass found Luca Toni whose shot took a deflection of Gabriel Tamas and flew over Marcelo Grohe.
Nikola Lazetic shot wide at the other end and Elvis Abbruscato's allowed Cecilio Velazquez cross to bounce on the ground before hitting it over the Fiorentina goal.
Grohe saved a great header from reported Torino target Riccardo Montolivo as Potenza crossed in the free-kick. Full-back was having a great second half.
Rosina shot over from edge of the area while Mario Santana could've made it 3:2 in final minute, but didn't use Raffaele Schiavi's mistake and hit the ball wide one on one with Grohe at near post.
Victory continues Torino reign at the top, but the gap with second placed Sampdoria didn't change. On positive side for Granata, close rivals Juventus did draw with Parma, leaving them 5 points behind.
Torino: 1-Marcelo Grohe; 4-Marco Andreolli, 5-Gabriel Tamas, 2-Raffaele Schiavi, 6-Marco Pisano (60' 27-Cecilio Velazquez); 17-Nikola Lazetic, 28-Silva, 36-Nicolae Mitea; 10-Alessandro Rosina; 11-Roberto Stellone (60' 20-Cedric Konan), 19-Elvis Abbruscato
Cautioned  : 31' Gabriel Tamas, 79' Cecilio Velazquez
Other Results
Bologna 0:1 Udinese
Chievo 0:1 Sampdoria
Inter 3:1 Siena
Messina 1:0 Lazio
Palermo 3:0 Atalanta
Parma 2:2 Juventus
Roma 1:0 Empoli
Napoli 0:1 Milan
Ascoli 1:0 Catania
Torino Position: 1st
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