Having escaped the rains of The British Isles I found their Italian equivalent in Florence. Much of Northern and Central Italy have also endured a wet, wet, wet winter.

While in the region I took the opportunity to watch the Serie A game between Fiorentina and Lazio. Fiorentina’s stadium is 3 kilometers from the city centre so I walked to the nearby Central Rail Station to get a number 7 bus which would drop me within walking distance of the ground.

An unexpected number 52 bendybus turned up with Stadio on the headboard and turning to a mid 20’s football scarfed fan he told me that this one was the one to get. Why as usual does everyone speak brilliant English and I can only manage a few basics. In a future life I am going to be fluent in Spansh and Italian.

My new friend beckoned me to follow when the bus stopped in an urban street and told me that this was where the bus departs for my return

Walking round the corner, the stadium revealed itself, built in the early 1930’s, a monument to Mussolini’s fascist architecture, made mainly of concrete.

My new friend offered to show me to the gate I needed which was in the opposite corner of the stadium to him but after declining the offer we shook hands and I set off in rain that was now of biblical proportions. By the time I had shown my paper ticket and ID (passport) there was not much left of the former and I began to fear that showing my wet passport on return to the UK might be a problem.

Once under cover I began to realise that there was little shelter for spectators. With a brief interlude in the rain I climbed the exterior to see my fears were correct and my seat in this 40000 plus arena was open to the elements.

At the top of the stairs you could see the whole ground which was remodelled for some World Cup Games in 1990 when the running track was removed to help create more seating.

I scuttled back under the stand to hide from a new wave of rain and sensibly bought a plastic poncho for protection. Unfortunately they only had green ones, so I stood out against the home supporters purple. There were a lot of purple poncho’s, they had obviously been in this position before.

Like most fans I left it as late as possible to take my seat and mopped it with my glove which I then wringed out. The poncho did its job and I didn’t get a wet backside.

There were a few Lazio supporters whose chants were met by a show of red flares and what sounded and felt like blast bombs.

The pitch was amazing, despite the deluge it appeared not to be retaining any water and players looked confident with the surface.

Fiorentina 2 Lazio 1

Monday 26th February 2024, 20.45 kick off.

Artemio Franchi Stadium, Viale Manfredo Fanti, 4, 50137 Firenze Italy

8th V 7th, Viola v The Eagles

Fiorentina ; Purple shirts and shorts : Lazio; Sky Blue shirts, white shorts.

Within a minute Fiorentina hit the cross bar and continued to dominate the first 15 minutes except for one Lazio corner. Fiorentina hit the post on 20 minutes when they should have scored and hit it again five minutes later.

Lazio didn’t deal well with the numerous home sides corners and long throws but as often happens a quick break away and Lazio players queued up to run on to the ball with only the goalkeeper to beat. It was Alberto who made it first to the ball and scored.
You could have said it was robbery, or a great game plan, that the visitors went in one ahead at half time.

The rain was still falling at half time.

The home side continued to press in the second half as Lazio were content just to soak up the pressure but the constant barrage was rewarded on 59 minutes when a ball was swung across the goal from the left and cleared everyone allowing Kayode, Fiorentina’s right back, to overlap and drill the ball into the roof of the net.

The home sides attacks were now constant and 6 minutes later a forward was pulled down in the penalty area and despite lengthy disputes the referee didn’t waver. A Fiorentina player stepped up to hit the penalty to the right of the keeper, who was beaten, but the post saved Lazio.

Fiorentina’s quest for number two was rewarded a few minutes later when a shot was parried by the keeper only for Bonaventura, one of two forwards who were following up, to easily score.

With 20 minutes left Lazio tried to rally and made substitutions but they just didn’t have the cutting edge to threaten an equaliser.

Fiorentina moved above Lazio in the league adapting to the down poor much better than their opponents, or just wanting to win the game more. Lazio have a Champions League second leg coming up and could have been distracted by that prize. Their persistent slow play out from the back, although showing some great skills, with taps, flicks, back heels etc, was thoroughly boring and when they finally reached the halfway line there were no openings for them to link with their forwards. This dull play in my view is crying out for a Graham Taylor to shake things up, heresy to most, but it’s needed!

Great refereeing by the man in the middle, who on numerous occasions waved play on for theatrical injuries that resulted in recovery once play had moved on.

There were no chips and instead I had a warm hot dog and the smallest coffee I have ever had at a football ground. They also sold roasted peanuts, something I have not seen at an English game for ages, but as a seasoned fan I remember buying Percy Daltons roasted peanuts many years ago at Highbury.