Soccer: Fiorentina rewarded for gambling on Rossi

(By Paul Virgo) (ANSA) – Rome, October 21 – When Fiorentina announced in January that they had agreed to pay 10 million euros to sign Giuseppe Rossi from Spanish side Villarreal it looked quite a gamble.

The 26-year-old had been out of action since October 2011 due to knee-ligament injuries and was set to be sidelined for another five months before making a final recovery.

And at the time the Florence club had no guarantee that the Italy forward would be the same fast, unpredictable menace to defences he was before he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee playing for Villarreal against Real Madrid. Indeed, in the run-up to the start of the 2013-14 Serie A season, much of the attention was taken up by Fiorentina’s big close-season signing, Germany forward Mario Gomez.

But while Gomez’s impact has been limited to two league appearances due to a knee problem, Rossi is Serie A’s top scorer with eight goals in as many games.

What’s more, the last three of those goals helped Fiorentina to one of their all-time most memorable victories and one of the worst defeats of their fierce rivals Juventus.

The Turin side looked to be cruising when they were 2-0 up with two thirds of the game gone on Sunday.

But a quickfire hat-trick by Rossi and a goal by Spanish midfielder Joaquin sealed a 4-2 win for the hosts.

Champions Juve had never previously conceded four goals in Serie A after being two ahead. It was all the more remarkable because coach Vincenzo Montella admitted he was close to substituting Rossi after a poor first-half display following a knock early in the game.

“But then I thought it’s always better to give another chance to class players,” said Montella.

On Monday Rossi described the Juve win as an “epic” game, adding he had already put the match ball in his trophy cabinet. Fiorentina Director of Sport Daniele Prad