Serie A | Fiorentina 5-1 Frosinone: Belotti gets Viola party started

Andrea Belotti got his first goal in the Viola jersey, as Fiorentina thrashed Frosinone 5-1 to get back on track, including Nico Gonzalez and Lucas Martinez-Quarta on target.

The Viola’s form crumbled in recent weeks with one point from four rounds, plus a heavy Supercoppa Italiana semi-final defeat to Napoli. Luca Ranieri was suspended, while Fabiano Parisi joined Gaetano Castrovilli, Dodo and Christian Kouame on the absentee list. The Canarini missed Kevin Bonifazi, Anthony Oyono, Marvin Cuni, Fares Ghedjemis, Nadir Zortea, Mateus Lusuardi and Riccardo Marchizza.

There was a minute’s silence and the hosts wore black armbands for legend Kurt Hamrin.

Pietro Terracciano had to rush off his line at the third minute to prevent Kaio Jorge making the most of a disastrous Lucas Martinez-Quarta first touch that had sent him clear on goal.

There was a huge triple opportunity for Fiorentina on 12 minutes from a corner, as Lucas Beltran’s header hit the post, the Martinez-Quarta follow-up was cleared off the line before Jonathan Ikone blasted over.

The deadlock was broken with Belotti’s first goal in the Viola jersey, as Ikone burst down the right with a change of pace and pulled back from the by-line for Il Gallo to volley in from six yards.

Moments later, Ikone gathered from Alfred Duncan down the right and cut inside, his curler deflected in off Caleb Okoli for 2-0.

Rolando Mandragora couldn’t keep his finish on target under pressure from Okoli after a flicked Belotti pass with the outside of the boot, but Nico Gonzalez missed a sitter when set up by Ikone only to fire wide from 10 yards.

Stefano Turati palmed a Duncan strike round the near post and on the resulting corner goal-line technology confirmed the Martinez-Quarta header had crossed over when bouncing off the underside of the bar.

Fiorentina added a fourth after the restart, as a poor clearance saw it knocked back down for Nico Gonzalez to volley into the roof of the net using his weaker right foot.