Champions League - Fiorentina squeak through

Eurosport - Tue, 24 Nov 21:40:00 2009

Fiorentina dumped Liverpool out of the Champions League as Juan Manuel Vargas's penalty gave them a 1-0 win against Lyon at the Stadio Artemio Franchi to book a place in the last 16.

2009-2010 Fiorentina Vargas - 0

But the Serie A side had goalkeeper Sebastien Frey to thank for denying his fellow countrymen with two superb saves in the closing minutes.

Lyon's qualification was already assured, but La Viola are now in pole position in Group E and will swagger into Anfield for the last group match in two weeks' time.

Rafael Benitez felt that Lyon would want to win the group to avoid stronger teams in the last 16 and boss Claude Puel started with eight of the players who drew at Anfield a fortnight ago. However, Fiorentina came close to opening the scoring with 10 minutes gone.

Mario Alberto Santana was given time to chest the ball down and after his volley crashed against the post, Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris reacted superbly to turn away the follow up from Alberto Gilardino.

And Gilardino was again left shaking his head when his towering header hit the Lyon woodwork for a second time.

Although Cris came close to connecting with a Lyon free-kick, the French side offered little in return.

As the Serie A side grew in confidence, Marco Marchionni stormed into the box on 28 minutes, only for Aly Cissokho's clumsy challenge to send the Italian sprawling.

The referee had little hesitation in pointing to the spot and Vargas confidently stepped up to send Lloris the wrong way to give Fiorentina a deserved half-time lead.

And it was La Viola who carved out the first real chance of the second period on 63 minutes. Marchionni beat the offside trap, but just as he prepared to pull the trigger, Cissokho slid in with a pinpoint tackle to deny the Italian.

Gilardino then scuffed a left-foot shot wide following Lorenzo De Silvestri's excellent pass as the visitors rocked.

Miralem Pjanic almost crafted an equaliser out of nothing for Lyon with a hard free-kick that Frey punched awkwardly away, but there was no white shirt on hand to benefit from the rebound.

The French keeper redeemed himself with just minutes remaining.

Bafetimbi Gomis fired substitute Cesar Delgado's corner goalwards from 12 yards out, only to find Frey on hand to make a superb reaction save.

Then in the dying seconds fellow sub Lisandro Lopez scampered clear on the right, but the Brazilian was denied by another excellent Frey stop to send Fiorentina through with their visitors - and dump Liverpool out.

Ian Hare / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 19 of 19

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  1. UEFA Champions League Final-
    Fiorentina vs Arsenal
    Now­ thats a match waiting to happen!

    From Ripster, on Wed 25 Nov 1:13PM

  2. To Rafa,

    When you walk through the door
    Bow your head­ in shame
    And don't be surprised by the bile
    At the­ end of the day
    You have earned the blame
    Through your­ waste and your arrogant style.

    Walk on through the­ wind
    Walk on through the rain
    With your dreams all­ tossed and blown
    Walk on, walk on
    With pain in your­ heart
    As you find yourself alone
    You'll always be­ alone.

    From Maurice, on Wed 25 Nov 12:10PM

  3. suck ma @#$% niggazz

    From Josh, on Wed 25 Nov 8:42AM

  4. looooooooook yoooo liverpool is the best !!! nxt time­ they will make it to the finalzzz and winn !!

    From Josh, on Wed 25 Nov 8:42AM

  5. 'Fiorentina squeak through'. What a typical­ whinging scouse headline.
    The following sentence was­ more apposite, 'Fiorentina dumped Liverpool out of­ the Champions League'!

    From dave.fleming, on Wed 25 Nov 7:06AM

  6. It was a one season wonder for the Reds last year.

    From Führer, on Wed 25 Nov 6:00AM

  7. the portughese referee i think favored lyon over the­ florentines unfortunately what the portughese did was­ not enough to help lyon win and liverpool was­ baffled!!!

    From dante, on Wed 25 Nov 4:44AM

  8. HA HA HA FORZA FIORENTINA !! KOPPITES R GOBSHITES

    From Michael, on Wed 25 Nov 2:03AM

  9. KOP MANIA, you are a pathetic miserable soul. Instead­ of facing the problems everyone have been seeing­ coming, you persistently talked up the average team you­ ended up having with Benitass. And when the inevitable­ happened, you started singing the lousy song that seems­ as an answer to all your failures. Why don't you­ do an honest critique and realise that Benitass is­ guilty of spending the club's money on bad players,­ on getting rid of great players and on not being able­ to manage your team? If you can, then get drunk and­ snore some coke and start saying to yourself­ ''the whole world hate us''. That seems­ to be easier for you miserable cowardly soul..

    From Half A Brain, on Wed 25 Nov 1:11AM

  10. no throphy this year AGAIN?hahahahaha

    From Yusoff, on Wed 25 Nov 12:24AM

  11. KOP MANIA: You may well be walking alone If you get­ drawn away at Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League,­ there won't be many Scouser's going to that one­ on a cold Thursday night in February. Yak! yak! yak! No­ more champions league footy until at least 2011­ that's if you can get past Villa, Man City and­ Spurs. Yak! yak! yak!

    From Sid, on Wed 25 Nov 12:20AM

  12. Yeah... it's sad.

    From Bryan, on Tue 24 Nov 11:55PM

  13. cheerio,cheerio ,cheerio ,
    cheerio, cheerio,­ cheerioh,
    cheerio, cheerio, cheerio,
    cheerio, cheerio,­ cheerio
    Bye scousers out of europe,
    Good luck in Europa­ league NOT LMAO
    chow chow (that's Italian)

    From Colin, on Tue 24 Nov 11:51PM

  14. First L, most of these articles are written by people­ who blatantly don't give a damn about football. Sad­ but true, but that's the way Yahoo! apparently­ feels about it

    From Simon, on Tue 24 Nov 11:27PM

  15. Lopez is not Brazilian! He's from Argentina

    From First L, on Tue 24 Nov 11:16PM

  16. When you walk through a storm
    Hold your head up­ high
    And don't be afraid of the dark
    At the end of­ the storm
    Is a golden sky
    And the sweet silver song of­ a lark

    Walk on through the wind
    Walk on through the­ rain
    Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown
    Walk on,­ walk on
    With hope in your heart
    And you'll never­ walk alone
    You'll never walk alone

    From KOP MANIA, on Tue 24 Nov 11:07PM

  17. well done the Italians.

    From GORDON, on Tue 24 Nov 11:05PM

  18. Liverpool sucks!!!hahahahhaha!!!crybaby­ kopites!!!You'll Never Walk Again!

    From Akta Vendetta, on Tue 24 Nov 10:56PM

  19. remember leeds hahaha watch this space

    From mcbride205, on Tue 24 Nov 10:45PM
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