The year 2018 has been extremely emotional for ACF Fiorentina, but the club has remained resilient. In Stefano Pioli’s first year in charge, the club went into the winter break of the 2017-18 season with an underwhelming 7-6-7 record. Supporters of the club from Florence were frustrated due to the 2017 summer transfer market. La Viola had sold many of its best players, including Federico Bernardeschi, Matias Vecino, Borja Valero, Josip Iličić, and Nikola Kalinic. The only adequate replacement brought in at the time was Giovanni Simeone — who has certainly turned out to be a great signing — from Genoa to take Kalinic’s spot on the forward line.
Selling homegrown starlet Bernardeschi to rivals Juventus was a bitter pill to swallow, reminiscent of Roberto Baggio’s transfer in 1990. A mediocre season seemed to be on the books, but with a new head coach and large squad turnover, it may have been tolerable. La Viola then lost three out of their first four matches upon the restart in mid-January and the campaign seemed to be at risk of total failure.
Everything stopped as tragedy struck on the morning of March 4. Club captain Davide Astori was not at the team breakfast before the match against Udinese and was found dead in his hotel room due to cardiac arrest. All Serie A fixtures on the day were postponed as the footballing world mourned the loss of the 31-year-old defender. Fiorentina and Cagliari, one of his former clubs, were quick to retire their No. 13 jersey in his honor. The city of Florence grieved as they lost a beloved figure and a class act. Scenes of roughly 10,000 people packed into the piazza of Santa Croce on a Thursday morning to pay their respects as Astori’s funeral were quite remarkable.
Le magnifique tifo des supporters de la Fiorentina en hommage à Davide Astori? pic.twitter.com/j2EJG8uomy
— PFC (@PassionFootClub) March 11, 2018
In their first game after losing their captain, Fiorentina willed their way to a 1-0 victory over Benevento at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. A touching tifo from the Curva Fiesole and a whole minute of silence in the 13th minute overshadowed the events on the pitch. Perhaps it was divine intervention that the lone goal was a headed goal from Astori’s replacement, Victor Hugo, who celebrated by saluting his departed captain.
Including Astori’s final match, Fiorentina went on a six-match winning streak to suddenly be in the battle for a Europa League berth. A team unified to honor their fallen teammate looked determined to salvage their season. La Viola even beat Roma and Napoli in the month of April by a combined score of 5-0. Agonizingly, a poor 1-0 loss to Cagliari and a 5-1 thumping from Milan to close out the season saw Fiorentina fall out of Europa League contention by three points and finish in eighth place. The product on the field during the 2017-18 season was respectable considering the circumstances at the start, but was obviously overshadowed by the Astori tragedy.
The summer of 2018 provided an opportunity for the club’s owners, the Della Valle brothers, and the fans to put aside their grievances and realize that they both needed each other. Thankfully there were no new tensions this summer as both parties seemed to have come out of the mercato quite pleased. The only notable departures were midfielders Milan Badelj, whose contract expired, and Riccardo Saponara, who had a fractured relationship with head coach Pioli.
Unlike the year before, the club were sure to bring in proper replacements this time around. Both Edimilson Fernandes and Gerson were signed on loan deals (from West Ham and Roma, respectively) and are making significant contributions, each logging over 600 minutes in league play already. Two wingers, Kevin Mirallas and Marko Pjaca, were signed on loan with the option to buy in order to bolster the attacking options. Mirallas brings experience to the youngest squad in Europe’s top five leagues, while Pjaca is a bright young talent who found it tough to find playing time at his parent club, Juventus. In addition to Federico Chiesa, who has become a catalyst for club and country, and Giovanni Simeone, La Viola have some exciting options going forward. Not to be forgotten, the club finally made an investment between the posts, signing 19-year-old goalkeeper Alban Lafont from French side Toulouse.
Stefano Pioli was given some talented players to begin his second season on the sidelines in Florence. The 2018-19 season could prove to be a stepping-stone to reach the next level as the club are putting together the pieces for a promising future. As it stands, Fiorentina currently sit in eighth place on 16 points. Although already suffering one-goal losses to Napoli, Inter, and Lazio, it is a long season and La Viola will look to overcome that hump and qualify for the Europa League.
Alessandro is a passionate fan of Italian calcio and the editor-in-chief of Get Italian Football News.