After spending big there was optimism in Florence, but their season has been a mess that may get worse
aniele Pradè had described Fiorentina v Lecce as a “question of life or death”, but as the occasion approached he remembered football’s third option: you can always just walk away. On Saturday, a little more than 24 hours before this game was due to take place, he left his role as sporting director of the Viola by mutual consent.
The timing was a surprise, but not the decision. Fiorentina had made a shockingly poor start to the season, collecting four points from their first nine games, and Pradè was adamant that he alone should shoulder the blame. “The club put €90m at my disposal to build the team,” he pointed out last month. “If anyone is responsible for the current situation, it’s me.”
Those words were intended as a shield to the manager, Stefano Pioli. Perhaps even Pradè’s actions this weekend represented one last attempt at protection: not so much stepping away as in front of the metaphorical bullet he saw flying toward them. A series of banners had been hung around Florence by ultras on Saturday, bearing such messages as “team, manager, club: you are the shame of this city.”
Pradè’s self-sacrifice could not suffice to temper all this anger. The only real chance Pioli had to save his job was to start winning games, but instead his team were beaten again on Sunday, losing 1-0 to Lecce. Their newly-promoted opponents scored early through Medon Berisha, then leaned on some excellent goalkeeping by Wladimiro Falcone – who denied Moise Kean more than once at the other end.
