Fiorentina were pushed all the way by underdogs NK Celje from Slovenia at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, but managed to reach the UEFA Conference League semi-finals after a tense 2-2 draw. This marks the 10th time in 11 tries that they’ve advanced from a European quarter-final.
Fiorentina, unbeaten in their last six games, made the brighter start. After just 11 minutes, Marin Pongračić had a great chance from a corner but headed over the bar. Celje grew in confidence as the first half went on and came close to levelling the tie when Tamar Svetlin shot towards the bottom corner, only to be denied by a superb save from David De Gea.
The best chance for Fiorentina in the first half came on 28 minutes when Nicolo Fagioli floated a lovely pass to Rolando Mandragora, whose header was brilliantly saved by Ricardo Silva. But Mandragora made no mistake shortly after, slotting home calmly into the bottom-left corner after a clever pass from Pongračić.
The second half didn’t start as comfortably for Fiorentina. Celje equalised in the 54th minute when Aljoša Matko ran onto a through ball and finished smartly into the bottom-right corner. Things got even more tense in the 66th minute as Celje took the lead through Klemen Nemanić’s stunning header into the top-left corner.
But the joy didn’t last long. Just a minute later, Moise Kean pulled Fiorentina level again with a brilliant curling strike into the far bottom corner. Celje’s dream run – as the only Slovenian club to ever reach the quarter-finals of a major European competition – came to an end, while Fiorentina held on to secure a spot in the semi-finals. They remain unbeaten in 12 two-legged UEFA Conference League ties.
