Fiorentina 1 - 1 Hellas Verona: Fiorentina title hopes all but over after draw

Posted Monday, March 14, 2016 by PA

Fiorentina are all but out of the Serie A title race after Eros Pisano's late leveller saw Hellas Verona snatch a 1-1 draw in Florence.

The Tuscans were 14 points behind leaders Juventus heading into Sunday's game at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, and Mauro Zarate's first-half opener looked like sustaining their faint hopes of winning the Scudetto.

But Fiorentina failed to put the game to bed and, with four minutes remaining, were punished by right-back Pisano and his towering header.

Basement boys Verona almost took a shock lead in the 20th minute, with Pawel Wszolek skipping past Marcos Alonso only to blast the ball wide of the mark.

Fiorentina duly notched five minutes before the break. On-loan Barcelona winger Cristian Tello completed a lung-busting run down the right before slipping the ball into Zarate's path for a deflected finish.

The visitors nearly equalised shortly after half-time but Luca Marrone found Ciprian Tatarusanu an immovable object in the Fiorentina goal.

Verona went perilously close to levelling when Ante Rebic burst into the Viola box, where Davide Astori did very well to scoop the ball off his feet.

Both Hellas and Fiorentina spurned golden chances to score as the game entered its final 10 minutes: Tatarusanu leapt on Luca Toni's low effort and Tello was repelled by quick-thinking Verona defender Filip Helander.

At the death, Pisano rose highest at a corner to stun the Franchi, and Pierluigi Gollini then made a desperate stoppage-time save against Nikola Kalinic to preserve Verona's surprise point.