Fiorentina beat Sassuolo 4-2 at the Mapei Stadium, ending a month-and-a-half wait for a win. The result moved Fiorentina level with Sassuolo on eight points, three clear of the relegation zone.
How the goals came
Armand Laurienté scored twice for Sassuolo. Mateo Pellegrino and Alieu Njie scored for Fiorentina, while substitute Pedro Gonçalves set up Franco Mastantuono's winner with a no-look pass and Valdepeñas sealed the win late on.
What the result changed
It was Fiorentina's first win in a month and a half. Football Italia said the win eased the pressure on Fiorentina coach Paolo Vanoli after a difficult run.
Vanoli on the performance
Football Italia said Vanoli spoke to DAZN after the match, with quotes courtesy of TuttoMercatoWeb. The Fiorentina coach said: "I’m happy for these lads, because we’d been playing very good football for some time, and more than once we deserved to get close to the three points. Sometimes because of our own mistakes, sometimes because we were still maturing, we didn’t get them. But I always told the players this was the right path."
Vanoli said: "The mistakes have helped us grow, because we’re a young team. We threw away the result against Inter in Milan in five minutes, against Como the key moments went against us, and against Atalanta we didn’t know how to manage the difficult moments. Now this win helps give us more self-esteem and awareness. But in a league like Italy’s, we can’t keep conceding two goals, so we have to look at that too."
Vanoli on what Fiorentina means
Explaining what Pellegrino meant when he said Vanoli had taught the squad what playing for Fiorentina means, Vanoli said: "We are Fiorentina. When we wear this shirt, we carry something important forward, and I have the great responsibility of making them understand that, because I think these lads have the talent to do something important for Fiorentina in the future. I’ve always said we need to put aside the ‘I’ and use the ‘we’. I told the dressing room that Pedro Gonçalves is an example of professionalism, as João Mário was."
