Udinese – Fiorentina 2-2, March 22

In Sunday’s football matchup, March 22, Fiorentina striker Mario Gomez saved La Viola from defeat with a couple of goals scored within just minutes of each other against Udinese. What at first seemed like a unpleasant match for the local team quickly turned around in the second half when Fiorentina held a 2-1 lead over Udinese.

La Viola’s lead, however, was unfortunately equalized shortly after. The first half was looking down for Fiorentina by the fourteenth minute when Udinese player Molan Wague, after a corner kick, got hold of the ball and put it past the Fiorentina goalie, Neta. The remainder of the first half played out without any goals, but the match fired up in the second half with three goals and six yellow cards in the first 26 minutes.

Quickly after the start of the second half, Mario Gomez, at the receiving end of a kick, managed to headbutt the ball into the net and equalize the score for Fiorentina. Building on this momentum, Fiorentina managed to rob the ball from the Udinese defense and put Mario Gomez in yet another position to take strike the ball into the net. Mario Gomez scored his second goal of the night three minutes after his first, putting Fiorentina in the lead 2-1.

While things temporarily looked great for La Viola, 10 minutes later they were yet again tied with Udinese when their offense weaved and charged through the Fiorentina defense. Panagiotis Kone of Udinese was the scorer of the second Udinese goal, the final one of the night. The remaining half hour of the match played out in vain for both teams who aggressively struggled, and failed, to take a lead.

Sunday night’s draw follows the team’s important victory over Roma in the Europa League Tournament, allowing them to advance to the next stage. The excitement of Fiorentina’s success in the Europa League will continue next month on both April 16 and 19 against Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine, while Fiorentina’s next Serie A matchup will be Saturday, April 4, against Sampdoria at 6:30 pm.  (jacob mccarthy)