Fiorentina into Coppa Italia final after dour Cremonese draw
Fiorentina were heavy favourites to progress and immediately went on the front foot against Davide Ballardini’s heavily-rotated side.
While this resulted in the hosts winning four corners in the opening quarter-hour, Fallou Sarr remained largely untested in the Cremonese goal early on, with Nikola Milenkovic heading wide after rising well to reach Cristiano Biraghi’s inviting delivery.
With their comfortable lead in mind, Fiorentina were in no rush and soon slowed the game down.
Chances eventually arrived with the half-hour mark approaching as they stepped things up. Gaetano Castrovilli’s superb switch found Nicolas Gonzalez, who teed up Arthur Cabral for an inventive flick that was blocked by Luka Lochoshvili, before Igor’s looping header from the ensuing corner was saved.
Following another lull, Gonzalez proved to be a bright spark again with a searching cross that found Castrovilli moments before the break, but the midfielder’s wait for a domestic goal this season continued as he headed harmlessly off target.
Ballardini called upon Cyriel Dessers in the 56th minute as he maintained hopes of getting back into the tie, but Felix Afena-Gyan was initially the man at the heart of any excitement for La Cremo with his attempted runs behind, even if they didn’t result in a notable opportunity.
Dessers eventually made a threatening run of his own to win a corner from Luca Ranieri’s shaky defending, although Charles Pickel wasn’t quite able to get enough on his header to send it goalward under pressure from Pietro Terracciano.
Even with Arthur Cabral heading wide from a late opportunity, Fiorentina comfortably went through their first semi-final of the season despite winning just one of their last six matches - a progression they will hope to repeat against FC Basel in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Cremonese’s aspirations are very different as they must now conjure a miraculous resurrection if they are to stay in Serie A, although they can be buoyed by suffering just one defeat in their last four across all competitions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Alex Ferrari (Cremonese)
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