One Through, One Out: Fiorentina Carry Italy’s Europa League Flag

One delivered. The other was sent home.

Fiorentina beat Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub 3-2 after extra time, completing a 4-2 aggregate victory and booking their place in the semi-finals. It was the sort of night that asks a team to keep its nerve after the ordinary ninety minutes have failed to settle anything. Fiorentina did, and Italy still has a club alive in the competition.

Lazio, by contrast, lost 2-0 away to AS Monaco. The defeat turned their advantage into a 3-2 aggregate loss, and Monaco go through. The scoreline is blunt; the consequence more so. Rome’s side had a lead to defend and now has no European tie to prepare for.

The national return from Europe this week was one win and one defeat, with no draws. Not a disastrous haul, perhaps, but hardly cause for a parade: Fiorentina have to carry the flag alone now. The Viola had been among the sides sent into these second legs with work still to do, as we noted last week. They have done theirs; Lazio have not.

There is a small old-Rome thread in Fiorentina’s progress. Fabio Bandera spent seven seasons at Lazio before joining the Florence club, and now advances in purple while his former side exits. That is not the whole story, but it gives the Italian night a sharper edge.

Fiorentina’s next European fixture is against FC Utrecht on 1 May. For now, they can savour surviving the quarter-final; the pressure simply changes shape. Italy’s flag is still raised in the Europa League. It is also entirely in their hands.