Serie A roundup: Monza drive away from drop zone with win, Fiorentina see off Sampdoria
Monza - Verona 2-0
Carlos Augusto's and Andrea Colpani’s second-half strikes saw Monza defeat 10-man Hellas Verona to condemn the visitors to an eighth consecutive Serie A (SA) loss for the first time in their history.
Up against bottom side Verona, Monza very nearly got off to the perfect start, with Gianluca Caprari forcing Lorenzo Montipo into a superb save inside the area in the very first minute. It was the type of start that was expected from the side with the joint-worst defensive record in SA ahead of the game.
What was already a shaky defence then became far worse, too, when a VAR check turned Giangiacomo Magnani’s initial yellow card red following his last-man challenge on Dany Mota with 28 minutes on the clock.
The deficit allowed Monza to take full control of proceedings, pinning Verona into their own third, albeit without testing Montipò on enough occasions before the break.
In a similar start to the first period, the second half saw the hosts let another chance go begging early on, with Caprari the guilty man once again, heading wide of the left post when unmarked inside the area.
The battle between Capriari and Montipo summed the forward’s afternoon up, with the keeper palming one more effort away from the striker before he was substituted.
The shot-stopper could not prevent the opening goal for much longer, however, with Augusto coming onto Patrick Ciurria’s cut-back to smash home into the roof of the net for 1-0 in the 68th minute.
Reduced to 10 men and pinned inside their own half as a result, Verona stood little chance of mounting any comeback, as Monza instead netted a second through substitute Colpani, who, like the first, was there on the cut-back to smash home to seal all three points.
The 2-0 victory goes down as Monza’s first win over Verona in seven games to leave them 15th, and their defeated visitors bottom of the league.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Carlos Augusto (Monza)
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Sampdoria - Fiorentina 0-2
Fiorentina registered only their second away victory of the 2022/23 Serie A campaign following a convincing 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Sampdoria at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium.
In pursuit of recording consecutive away league victories for the first time since September 2021, the visitors were ahead after only four minutes as Dodo’s sublimely timed cut-back in the area was fired home by the late arriving Giacomo Bonaventura.
Hoping to replicate their European success on the domestic front after progressing to the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa Conference League midweek, Christian Kouame missed a gilt-edged opportunity to double his side’s advantage after strike-partner Jonathan Ikone had opted to square the ball rather than go for goal himself.
With the contest entering the final quarter-hour of the first half, Sampdoria were handed a much-needed reprieve by VAR after referee Livio Marinelli had initially pointed to the spot for a push on Luka Jovic.
In need of a morale-boosting second-half comeback to stand any chance of registering a hat-trick of H2H league victories, Dejan Stankovic brought on Italian international Manolo Gabbiadini in place of Daniele Montevago for the commencement of the second-half.
Fiorentina instead doubled their lead, though, as Nikola Milenkovic headed his side into an unassailable two-goal lead in the 58th minute.
Fiorentina remained untested by a demoralised Sampdoria side throughout a lacklustre second half, as Vincenzo Italiano’s side secured a fourth successive victory across all competitions.
In contrast, Sampdoria now need to be victorious in their remaining two matches and hope other results go their way if they want to escape the relegation zone before heading into the early Winter break due to the Qatar World Cup.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina)