Having lost three successive games prior to this evening, a game against a Lecce side they beat 6-0 in the reverse fixture seemed the perfect tonic for Fiorentina to return to form.
It proved to be that way in the opening stages as La Viola started on the offensive and duly nosed ahead inside the opening 10 minutes.
The two full-backs combined for the opener, with Dodô plating a perfect cross onto the head of Robin Gosens, who guided the ball back across goal and into the far corner.
Lecce weren’t rocked by falling behind and created an opening to get back in the game through Nikola Krstović, but he could only fire straight at David De Gea from a tight angle.
The visitors were left feeling aggrieved shortly before the break, as they felt they should’ve been facing 10 men for over half the game. Lucas Beltrán, already on a yellow card, lunged into a late challenge, but perhaps owing to the fact he was already on a caution, escaped any further punishment.
Fiorentina boss Raffaele Palladino found himself under immense pressure prior to this evening, so he’ll have been watching on anxiously from the touchline as Lecce seized the initiative in the second half.
Fortunately for him, the Giallorossi are the lowest scorers in Serie A, and despite having a raft of attacks in the second half’s infancy, they certainly weren’t looking threatening in front of goal.
The hosts were handed a golden opportunity to wrap up the game a little under 20 minutes from time when Balthazar Pierret handled inside the box after Gosens headed goalwards.
Such is La Viola’s luck at the moment, though, Beltrán’s spot-kick crashed back off the post, which Lecce will feel was justice served after the first-half flashpoint he was involved in.
His miss from 12 yards set up a nervy ending for Fiorentina, but they nearly wrapped up the victory five minutes from time when Beltrán again had the frame of the goal shaking, this time thundering an effort off the crossbar.
Still, their one-goal cushion was enough to secure three pressure-relieving points for Palladino, who watched his side move up to sixth ahead of the weekend’s action. Lecce, meanwhile, remain five points above the bottom three.