Pisa beat Fiorentina 3-0 in the Coppa Italia Round of 32 on Tuesday evening, a result that will have sent ripples through Florence. The hosts ran out comfortable winners despite Fiorentina controlling much of the game, and here's the thing — the match wasn't decided by possession or territory. It was decided by three moments that caught the visitors sleeping.
Mateo Pellegrino opened the scoring in the 40th minute, and it came at a time when Fiorentina had been camped in the final third without creating anything real. Pisa held their nerve after that, picking up two bookings in five minutes but keeping their shape. The visitors had 53 percent possession but nothing to show for it by half-time.
Fiorentina made a change in the 45th minute, bringing on Radu Drăguşin, and then flooded the bench around the hour mark with four substitutions in quick succession. Simone Zanon, Emanuele Rao and Filippo Pittarello all came off together in the 59th minute, and by then the game had already slipped away. Marco Brescianini followed, and Franco Mastantuono was withdrawn too.
Wilfried Gnonto pulled one back for Fiorentina in the 71st minute, but Pisa were not going to let this unravel. They switched to a back three at that point, and turned to the kids to see out the remainder. Víctor Valdepeñas Talavera picked up a booking in the 55th minute and then came off in the 72nd, which told you everything about how Fiorentina were managing their options.
Pedro Goncalves sealed it in stoppage time, and that was that. The statistics tell a strange story — Fiorentina had 145 attacks to Pisa's 78, and 7 shots on target to none. But three goals on the board means none of that matters. Pisa paid for a sloppy opening and then held their nerve when it counted.
The result puts Pisa through to the next round, and Fiorentina will now have to answer questions about their performance. They dominated the numbers but lost the moments, and that is how matches are decided. The goal difference and the points on the table are all that remain of this one.
