Fiorentina Determined To Bring In Bright New Dawn After Davide Astori Tragedy

It was difficult to tell how Fiorentina would handle their first away game without their Captain Davide Astori. The first match at home since his sudden death was a monumental effort for the Viola players, who had essentially gone through a shock bereavement just the week before. The eyes of the world were on them as they and the supporters paid tribute to Astori, and almost the entire squad collapsed to the ground in sheer exhaustion from the emotion after a 1-0 victory that day.

Just two weeks after his death they would travel to Turin to face Walter Mazzarri’s Torino, in what would undoubtedly be a reminder of that fateful day. Staying together in a hotel would have been exactly like what they did a fortnight before in Udine, although that morning Davide Astori never woke up. They could be forgiven, therefore, for putting in a lacklustre performance after such a superhuman effort to get back on the pitch following the tragedy.

However, the Viola were bright and spirited in their approach to the game, playing a mid-table encounter with all the verve of a side competing for something more important. Coach Stefano Pioli had predicted this in his pre-match press conference, having worked well with this tenacious young group in the days leading up to the game.

“Last Sunday was an unusual match, but tomorrow we’ll be playing football,” he declared. “The lads are doing genuinely extraordinary things. They are training so well and we want to play our game from start to finish against a strong Torino side. I never had doubts, but I’m more convinced than ever that these players are finding a strength within themselves that I didn’t think they had. I am truly honoured to be coaching this group.”

Not one of the players who were selected for the Fiorentina starting XI versus the Granata had reached the age of 30, the team having been completely refreshed this summer as many more experienced footballers were shipped out of the club. Indeed, the most senior player in that side was Milan Badelj at 29, the man who had taken on the task of wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of Astori.

He put in a man-of-the-match performance as the Viola recorded a 2-1 victory that day, continuing a 100% record in the two games since that terrible loss. The Croatian led by example in the captaincy role that had been handed to him almost by default, passing the ball more than any other player on the pitch that day. Badelj completed 90.1% of his 71 attempts according to StatsZone, also winning all four of his tackles and recovering the ball no less than six times.

Further forward, Riccardo Saponara had proved in training that he was “in the form of his life” according to Pioli and his quality certainly showed on the pitch. A sublime cross-field pass to Federico Chiesa on the wing perfectly demonstrated his ability, the 26-year-old showcasing form that he had previously struggled to find during an injury-hit spell with Fiorentina.

Of the entire squad, it seemed that Saponara was the most visibly emotional after the death of Astori, especially having penned a heartfelt Instagram post that made international headlines.

“Now they will tell us that life goes on, that we must look forward and pick ourselves up, but what will your absence taste like?,” read an excerpt from that post. “Who will arrive every morning in the cafeteria, warming up everyone with his smile? Who will ask us about what we did the previous night and have a laugh about it? Who will nurture the youngsters and give a sense of responsibility to the veterans? Who will form the circle to work on our 'two-touch play' and who will demolish Marco [Sportiello] on the PlayStation?”

Yet as those players came to the away fans to salute their Captain at the end of the match versus Torino, there were only smiles and no tears. In a short space of time they had indeed “looked forward and picked themselves up,” making the decision to take something positive from such a terrible event. Their faces showed that they would not wallow in their grief, but use the legacy of their Captain’s smile to build something fresh, and this very fact should give fans of Fiorentina great hope for the future.

After the Viola were heading for mid-table obscurity, it now seems like they have a chance to qualify for the Europa League next season. Pioli’s men now sit just three points behind Atalanta in seventh with ten games still to play, even if many of those involve teams who are fighting at either the top or the bottom of the standings.

With a determined and united squad, what better way to honour the late Davide Astori than to achieve something tangible in memory of his name? Just as the sunshine gradually begins to peep through after the rain, it seems like Fiorentina are emerging as a bright force to be reckoned with in the future.