Moroccan Mounir Obbadi came off the bench to score his maiden Serie A goal in the final minute as Hellas Verona dented ACF Fiorentina’s hopes of securing a place in the UEFA Europa League next season with a 1-0 victory on Monday.
Fiorentina hosted Verona in the final fixture of the weekend with the chance to replace misfiring Sampdoria in fifth place, but the hosts, who lost Khouma Babacar because of a knock he took to his knee only seven minutes after the Senegalese striker replaced Josip Ilicic, failed to capitalize on several clear chances and were made to pay toward the end of a dramatic second half.
Fiorentina should have taken the lead in the 71st minute, but Vincenzo Montella’s men saw Verona goalkeeper Rafael expertly parry Alessandro Diamanti’s penalty after the goalkeeper had rushed out of his goal and fouled Alberto Gilardino.
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Obbadi, on loan from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco, replaced Panagiotis Tachtsidis only a few minutes later and delivered a first warning when he first-timed a cross from the right side of the penalty area just beyond post and crossbar with Neto well beaten.
The Moroccan midfielder was given a second chance to open his account in Italy’s top flight and seized it with both hands, firing past Neto after the goalkeeper spilled a Lazaros Christodoulopoulos drive from the edge of the penalty area.
It was only Verona’s ninth win of the campaign and it moved Andrea Mandorlini’s men up to 14th place, 13 points clear of the relegation zone.
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“It was a crucial game for us. Now, we’re sure to stay up and over the next games we’ll try to improve our league standing,” Mandorlini said. “We were lucky at certain points, but for what we put in during the last 20 minutes we deserved to win the game.”
Fiorentina’s eighth loss of the season kept La Viola in sixth spot and has given a boost to several direct rivals for the league’s two Europa League places.
“That’s four potentially decisive penalties we’ve missed this season, the next time I’m taking it,” Montella said. “We were doing well and I don’t think we really deserved the defeat.”
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