Fiorentina Clinch first Serie A win in 5-1 rout
Beleaguered Fiorentina finally got its first Serie A win of the season after its opponent played nearly the entire match with 10 men. Fiorentina eased to a 5-1 victory at home to Udinese, which had goalkeeper Maduka Okoye sent off with less than eight minutes on the clock. It was Fiorentina’s first win in 16 league matches and saw the last-placed team cut the gap to safety to five points. Midtable Udinese beat defending Serie A champion Napoli last weekend.
However, the visitors got off to the worst possible start as Okoye came rushing out of the penalty area and clattered into Moise Kean who was clear through on goal. The stopper, who also touched the ball with his arm, was shown a straight red card.
Fiorentina took the lead in the 21st minute when Nicolò Fagioli tapped a free kick towards Rolando Mandragora, who fired a low shot underneath Udinese’s replacement goalkeeper Razvan Sava. Albert Guðmundsson’s fine strike and Cher Ndour’s header put Fiorentina comfortably ahead at halftime.
Kean scored twice after the break, either side of Oumar Solet’s consolation goal for Udinese. An even earlier red Atalanta managed to snatch a 1-0 victory against 10-man Genoa, which saw red in very similar circumstances to Udinese. Genoa goalkeeper Nicola Leali was sent off in the third minute for a foul on Atalanta forward Gianluca Scamacca.
Atalanta, as expected, dominated possession but Genoa - which looked far more dangerous with its chances — remarkably appeared to have held on for a draw before Isak Hien headed in a corner in the fourth minute of stoppages. United States midfielder Yunus Musah made his first Serie A start for Atalanta since the second round on Aug. 29.
Genoa remained two points above safety Safety hopes A last-gasp equalizer from Stefano Moreo saw Pisa snatch a 2-2 draw at Cagliari. Pisa inched to within three points of safety. Cagliari was left three points above the relegation zone. Man United captain Bruno Fernandes set to miss games after injury against Villa (Eds: Eds: UPDATES: Adds quotes.)
Birmingham (England), Dec 22 (AP) Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes could be out for “a while” after pulling up with an injury against Aston Villa on Sunday.
United coach Ruben Amorim said Fernandes had sustained a soft tissue injury in the first half of the Premier League game at Villa Park. Villa won 2-1.
“I think it’s soft tissues, so it’s going to take a while. We’ll see,” Amorim told Sky Sports. Fernandes appeared to hurt his hamstring when pulling up. He played on until the break but was replaced by Lisandro Martinez for the start of the second half.
Fernandes was then seen walking uncomfortably along the sideline as he made his way to the bench for the second half. “I think he is going to lose some games, but I don’t know for sure,” Amorim said in his post-match news conference. “I don’t want to talk about the matter, it is a guy who is always fit and he has shown he can always recover.”
United is already without Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui, who are playing in the Africa Cup of Nations. Amorim’s options were further depleted on Sunday, with midfielder Kobbie Mainoo ruled out with a calf injury picked up in training.
“During this year, especially in this time, we have so many problems, but we have to cope with that,” Amorim said. Mainoo would have been the obvious replacement for Fernandes. Even before Fernandes’ injury, Amorim said Mainoo’s absence was bad timing. “He is going to be fine in a few weeks, I think, I don’t know,” Amorim said.
