alessandro matri, josip ıličić and alberto aquilani struck in the first half as the viola beat the freeze in chilly denmark.
acf fiorentina took a significant step towards the uefa europa league round of 16 with a 3-1 victory against esbjerg fb in denmark setting them up nicely for the return leg.
cold and wet conditions welcomed the viola to esbjerg, but if the home side thought conditions might favour them, they soon found out otherwise as goals from alessandro matri, josip ıličić and alberto aquilani epitomised a stylish first-half showing from the visitors. esbjerg were briefly level through martin pušić and created further chances, but an assured tactical display from fiorentina kept the hosts at bay after the break.
the first half started explosively: pušić drew an early save from neto, but matri trumped him at the other end, controlling a lofted pass and firing into the bottom corner in the ninth minute. esbjerg did not have long to wait for an equaliser, though, as jakob ankersen's cross was deflected into the path of pušić, with the striker making no mistake.
the pendulum swung again. davidson drobo-ampem's weak clearance was collected by ıličić, and the slovenia forward curled the ball past martin dúbravka on 15 minutes. entertainment value remained sky-high as esbjerg then laid siege to the ıtalian team's goal, jonas knudsen and ankersen both driving narrowly wide. however, with another leveller seemingly looming, drobo-ampem brought down ryder matos following a fiorentina counterthrust, enabling aquilani to slot coolly into the top corner from the spot.
clearly satisfied with the score, fiorentina adopted a more defensive approach after the interval. substitute mario gomez's stinging effort was kept out by dúbravka, while at the other end neto made a brilliant stop to deny knudsen a long-range screamer. jesper rasmussen threatened late on, but fiorentina resisted to leave esbjerg with a mountain to climb.
yardımcı hakemler: tikhon kalugin (rus), anton averianov (rus)
4. hakem: dmitri mosyakin (rus)
çizgi hakemleri: maksim layushkin (rus), vitali meshkov (rus)
esbjerg: martin dúbravka (gk), peter ankersen, davidson drobo-ampem, magnus lekven (dk. 72 jesper rasmussen), emil lyng (dk. 46 jeppe andersen), jakob ankersen, hans henrik andreasen(c) (dk. 83 martin bergvold), mohammed fellah, jonas knudsen, michael jakobsen, martin pušić
yedekler: jeppe højbjerg (gk), mick van buren, mushaga bakenga, jerry lucena
teknik direktör: niels frederiksen (den)
fiorentina: neto (gk), facundo roncaglia, marvin compper, alberto aquilani (dk. 76 david pizarro), matías fernández (dk. 65 marko bakić), stefan savić, alessandro matri (dk. 56 mario gomez), borja valero, manuel pasqual (c), ryder matos, josip iličić
yedekler: antonio rosati (gk), joaquín, massimo ambrosini, nenad tomović
teknik direktör: vincenzo montella (ita)
goller: (0-1) dk. 9 alessandro matri (1-1) dk. 10 martin pušić (1-2) dk. 15 josip iličić (1-3) (penaltıdan) dk. 37 alberto aquilani
sarı kartlar: dk. 34 michael jakobsen, dk. 90 davidson drobo-ampem (esbjerg) dk. 34 manuel pasqual (c), dk. 70 josip iličić (fiorentina)
