Torino found themselves reduced to ten men for the entirety of the second half following the contentious dismissal of Samuele Ricci, yet Fiorentina failed to capitalize on their numerical advantage.
The encounter marked a clash of European aspirations between two teams that had faltered in recent weeks. Fiorentina grappled with injuries to key players such as Lucas Martinez-Quarta, Christian Kouame, Gaetano Castrovilli, and Oliver Christensen, while Andrea Belotti faced his former club. Toro, on the other hand, were missing Mergim Vojvoda, Adrien Tameze, Matteo Lovato, and Perr Schuurs, although Alessandro Buongiorno returned to action following his shoulder dislocation on January 26.
Toro suffered an early setback with the departure of Ivan Ilic due to a knee injury sustained in an accidental collision with Cristiano Biraghi.
Duvan Zapata initiated a promising attack from the center circle, narrowly missing the target with his shot, while Pietro Terracciano executed a fingertip save to divert a Nikola Vlasic strike around the post.
Nico Gonzalez narrowly missed connecting with a header from a Biraghi delivery, and Antonio Sanabria was thwarted in a clear scoring opportunity by a stumble inside the penalty area following a Luca Ranieri mistake on the goal kick.
Toro resorted to direct play once more, with Vanja Milinkovic-Savic launching a free kick forward and Duvan Zapata jostling with Nikola Milenkovic to convert into the net. However, the goal was disallowed following a VAR On-Field Review due to a foul. Lucas Beltran was cautioned for dissent during the review process and is set to be suspended for the upcoming match against Roma.
Samuele Ricci received a yellow card for an elbowing incident involving Nico Gonzalez, but was subsequently sent off after vehemently remonstrating with the referee for not immediately penalizing Arthur for a foul, thus leaving Torino with ten men.
Despite being a man down, Torino created the first scoring opportunity of the second half, with Gineitis sending Raoul Bellanova on a counterattack, only for Terracciano to deny him with a save at the near post.
Milinkovic-Savic produced a crucial save to keep out a Giacomo Bonaventura header from a Nico Gonzalez cross.
Duvan Zapata’s powerful header from a corner narrowly missed the target, as did Nico Gonzalez’s cross-cum-shot, while towards the end of the game, an altercation between the coaches on the touchline resulted in a booking for Italiano and a second yellow card for Ivan Juric.
Milinkovic-Savic continued his heroics by thwarting a curling effort from Nico Gonzalez in stoppage time, while Belotti blazed his effort over the bar, culminating in a goalless draw that reflects the disappointing form of both teams overall.
Torino 0-0 Fiorentina