In the end it was Empoli who celebrated and won the Medicean derby against Fiorentinaa match that began with dedications of affection to Bove and ended in the tension of penalties. Double celebration for the Azzurri: in addition to the almost derby win, in fact, they also qualify for the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup, in which they will face the winner between Juventus and Cagliari. The lottery is needed to determine the winner of the Tuscan-style round of 16, after the 2-2 in the 90 minutes plus injury time. In the final series, first Ekong made a mistake, but then the subsequent errors by Ranieri and Kean opened the way to success at Empoli.
In his analysis Palladino also rewinds the tape to the previous days and the Bove affair: “We spent three days always thinking about Edo and on an emotional level it certainly took something away from us. In the first half the team was tense, not calm, we made mistakes that we don’t usually make. The boys gave it their all, not I have no complaints. In the second half we metabolized and the performance was excellent: we created a lot, we put Empoli in difficulty and overturned it. It’s a shame that we conceded the second goal similar to the first. It seemed like a bit of a haunted match, I’m sorry to go out.” .
D’Aversa instead outlines what is a historic night for his club: “Today in the second half Fiorentina came out but we stayed within it, we believed in it and we went through. Penalties are a lottery but good ones. We had a lot of boys and an average age of 23-24 years: we beat the penalties under Fiorentina’s curve as requested by the League, the evening will remain in the history of our club.”