Tottenham vs. Fiorentina: Score, Grades and Reaction from 2015 Europa League
Tottenham Hotspur and Fiorentina played out a highly entertaining 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane on Thursday, with both clubs displaying plenty of attacking intent from the opening minute.
Spurs were the better team early on, but La Viola took over in the second half, and the final scoreline was an accurate reflection of the display on the pitch. The Italians hold the advantage of the away goal heading into the return leg and have to be considered slight favourites to advance.
The first real chance of the match immediately produced a goal, as Paulinho's corner kick fell straight to Roberto Soldado, who unleashed a spectacular volley to put the ball past Ciprian Tatarusanu. The Spaniard isn't enjoying a good season for Spurs, so social media had some fun with the goal.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Paddy Power joined in on the action:
The corner came as a result of another good play from Soldado, slipping Nacer Chadli through on goal. The Belgian failed to put the ball past Tatarusanu, but the resulting corner yielded the desired result.
Tottenham kept pushing forward, and Fiorentina's back four showed plenty of cracks under the pressure, something Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe also noticed:
La Viola had chances of their own, however, as Mohamed Salah played an excellent one-two with Joaquin and nearly got a shot off in a dangerous area.
Soldado remained lively and nearly doubled his tally with another spectacular effort, aiming his bicycle kick directly at the goalkeeper. The pace of the match was incredibly high, to the enjoyment of the home crowd.
The Italians started to take over the match, producing a number of small chances, and they nearly won a penalty when Soldado took out Joaquin on the edge of the box. Matias Fernandez blasted the resulting free-kick right at Hugo Lloris, whose clearance fell to Jose Maria Basanta, pulling his team level, per the London Evening Standard:
Fiorentina remained the better team, but the hosts came agonisingly close to restoring their lead on the verge of half-time, as the rebound off a Soldado header fell to Chadli. The Belgian had very little time to react and managed to play the ball toward goal, but it hit the crossbar and bounced back out just in front of the line.
FourFourTwo's Chris Miller couldn't hold the miss against Chadli:
La Viola opened the second half with the same intensity they displayed at the end of the first and nearly scored another goal on a wild scramble, as the ball took an unkind bounce before Soldado cleared it.
The pace soon started to drop and chances became rare, however, with Nabil Bentaleb blasting the best well over the bar.
A quick counter-attack saw the ball worked to Mario Gomez with 20 minutes left on the clock, but the German couldn't get his shot on target. Immediately afterward, Joaquin slipped past Kyle Walker on another counter, but the ball over the top was just too long.
The match remained incredibly close and tense heading into the final minutes, with both teams anxious to put one more goal on the board. Per AFP's Tom Williams, White Hart Lane didn't react kindly to Gomez taking his time to leave the pitch:
"Third Spurs change, with Ryan Mason replacing Paulinho. Josip Ilicic on for Fiorentina. Mario Gomez jeered for taking an age to come off.
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) February 19, 2015"
Salah kept up his tireless running and came close to winning it for La Viola, shooting over after an impressive move to create space. That would be the last chance in the entertaining encounter, an excellent result for the visitors heading into the return leg.
Fiorentina made the necessary adjustments at half-time and overcame a rough start to be the better team in the second half, using the counter-attack to keep the likes of Walker from advancing too far up the field. Expect La Viola to do the same in Florence and not play defensively in an attempt to bank on their away-goal advantage.
Spurs have to look at their early dominance and what went wrong in the second half, but they now know they have the attacking quality to trouble La Viola's shaky back four. Harry Kane will likely return to the starting XI next week, so Tottenham still have an excellent chance of advancing to the next round.
Relevant Match Grades
Roberto Soldado: B+
Undoubtedly one of the best matches the Spaniard has played for Spurs. Lively, present and always dangerous, Soldado also showed great willingness to track back and defend. Unfortunately, he showed he's a striker and a defender by foolishly committing the foul that led to the 1-1.
Nacer Chadli: C+
The Belgian didn't have a poor game and was incredibly unlucky not to score late in the first half, although he really should have put his chance in the opening minutes away. Not one of Chadli's better performances.
Joaquin: A-
By far the visitors' best performer, Joaquin used his pace and dribbling skills to make life miserable on Spurs throughout the evening.
Post-Match Reaction
Manager Mauricio Pochettino thought Spurs deserved better and expects a wide-open match next week in Italy:
As shared by WhoScored's Ben McAleer, his Fiorentina counterpart Vincenzo Montella also thinks fans will be in store for another free-flowing game:
