MILAN: Fiorentina honoured deceased owner Rocco Commisso with Sunday’s 2-1 win at off-form Bologna which boosted their Serie A survival bid.
Without a win until just before Christmas, Fiorentina claimed a deserved third success in six matches thanks to goals in the first half from Rolando Mandragora and Roberto Piccoli.
Paolo Vanoli’s side sit just inside the relegation zone but level on 17 points with Lecce, who are 17th and face AC Milan.
Fiorentina have a superior goal difference than Lecce and only sit below them by virtue of having played a game more.
That means a defeat for Lecce at the San Siro against title-chasing Milan would push Fiorentina, who less than a month ago looked destined for the drop, out of the bottom three.
Sunday’s win was a fine way to pay tribute to American media mogul Commisso, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 76 and was remembered with a minute’s silence ahead of kick-off.
During pre-match preparations, Fiorentina players wore T-shirts with a picture of Commisso and the message “Thanks Rocco”, in tribute to a man who just missed out on giving the Tuscan club a first major trophy since 2001.
In Saturday’s late match, Juventus’ Serie A title ambitions are all but over after they suffered a 1-0 defeat at Cagliari, in a game where the visitors were unable to make their domination of possession count.
Juventus sit fifth in the standings on 39 points, 10 behind leaders Inter Milan, who beat Udinese 1-0 on Saturday. Cagliari are 15th on 22 points, the win taking them eight points away from the relegation zone.
Cagliari failed to register a shot attempt in the opening half but scored a shock winner when Luca Mazzitelli scored with 25 minutes remaining to end Juve’s six-match unbeaten league run.
“You tip your hat to your opponents, who brought home a victory that perhaps they didn’t deserve, but sniffed out the opportunity and took it,” Juventus manager Luciano Spalletti told Sky Sport. “Maybe next time we can learn from that and sniff out our chance too.”
Earlier on Saturday, champions Napoli ended a run of three consecutive draws by beating Sassuolo 1-0 at home to get their bid to retain the Serie A title back on track.
Stanislav Lobotka scored the only goal of the game but the win came at a cost for injury-hit Napoli as defender Amir Rrahmani and forward Matteo Politano both picked up knocks, with coach Antonio Conte already missing Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Anguissa and David Neres.
Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2026
