Fiorentina fought back for a fiery 4-2 victory away to St Gallen including a Jonathan Ikone brace to maintain their perfect Conference League start.
The Viola were finding their feet with three consecutive victories, including 2-0 against The New Saints to open their European account, but Albert Gudmundsson, Marin Pongracic and Rolando Mandragora were injured, with Moise Kean only fit for the bench. The Swiss side lost their first game 6-2 away to Cercle Bruges.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
Felix Mambimbi’s header was off target from a promising position, but play was suspended for several minutes when fans behind Pietro Terracciano’s goal repeatedly threw fireworks onto the pitch.
Christian Kouame should’ve done better when shinning a cross over the bar from 12 yards and then wandered offside so when he did get the ball in the net, it did not count from Yacine Adli’s assist.
Moments later, it was St Gallen who took the lead when Adli was caught napping sluggishly playing out from the back, a wayward pass intercepted by Jordi Quintillà to set up Mambimbi’s deflected finish.
Mambimbi almost got a second when he surged forward and unleashed a scorcher that Terracciano flew to palm away.
Fiorentina had several big chances in quick succession, as Lawrence Ati-Zigi pushed a Riccardo Sottil strike round the base of the post, then on the resulting corner fumbled a Lucas Martinez Quarta header. He also beat away the Amir Richardson snapshot from distance.
Straight after the restart, Ati-Zigi made a desperate save using his trailing foot when the Sottil curler from the edge of the area took a massive deflection.
It was turning into a siege, and after another unorthodox save on Sottil, Fiorentina equalised with the Martinez Quarta header from Cristiano Biraghi’s corner.
Incredibly, they turned it around within four minutes, as an inspired Edoardo Bove pass allowed Jonathan Ikone to spring the offside trap and beat the goalkeeper one-on-one from a tricky angle.
It remained wide open and St Gallen got back on level terms with a sensational looping header that Lukas Gortler steered over Terracciano into the far top corner on the Vandermersch cross.
Fiorentina broke on the counter following a heavy collision in midfield and the referee gave the advantage, as Sottil and then Kouame moved it left to right for Ikone to sweep home at the back post.
The constant interruptions due to fireworks thrown from the fans – mainly the Fiorentina supporters – saw a huge amount of added time.
Just four minutes into that, Kouame’s effort thumped the base of the upright and Robin Gosens was ready to turn in the rebound.
There was nearly a fifth moments later, a low one-handed save on Fabiano Parisi and Ikone firing the potential hat-trick over from a tricky angle.
St Gallen 2-4 Fiorentina
Mambimbi 23 (SG), Martinez Quarta 50 (F), Ikone 54, 69 (F), Gortler 62 (SG), Gosens 94 (F)
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