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Fiorentina travelled to Ferrara this weekend to face SPAL in Serie A. Fiorentina is eight places above SPAL in the Serie A table in eighth, and La Viola wrapped up a fairly comfortable 4-1 victory.
The game was relatively unnoteworthy, spare a VAR decision that completely turned the tide of the match. VAR is used in Serie A this season and has been a controversial inclusion in the professional game.
SPAL took the lead on 36 minutes through Andrea Petagna with a bit of fortune as Fiorentina’s Alban Lafont palmed the ball away right into the path of the striker.
Just before the stroke of half time, Fiorentina equalized with a lovely strike from Edimilson Fernandes from outside the box.
The second half came with trouble.
Federico Chiesa dribbled into the box and seemed to take contact from two players before eventually going down. The referee didn’t call anything and let the play continue.
The ball found its way all the way down to other end of the pitch and SPAL’s Mattia Valoti put the ball in the back of the net to make it 2-1.
That is, for little more than a minute.
The referee stopped the kickoff so he could review the play.
Chiesa ended up receiving a challenge on his foot and the referee sensationally disallowed SPAL’s goal and awarded a penalty to Fiorentina.
Fiorentina ended the match with two more goals after the penalty, one each from Giovanni Simeone and Gerson. SPAL fans were less than pleased and will feel hard done by the decision, but it was the right call, as you'll see below.
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