Fiorentina's Match With Lazio Mark Palladino's Quest For First Serie A Victory With The Viola

After their home victory against Hellas Verona, Lazio will continue their Serie A campaign with an away match against Fiorentina, led by Raffaele Palladino. This match, set for Sunday at 12:30 local time, will open the Serie A fixtures for the day. While Lazio have secured 7 points from their first four games, Fiorentina have struggled under Palladino’s leadership following Vincenzo Italiano's departure. Palladino is tasked with turning things around for the Viola, but early performances suggest there’s still plenty of work ahead.

In their first four league matches, Fiorentina have managed three draws and one defeat. Their only bright spot came in the Conference League, where they secured qualification by defeating Hungary's Puskas Academy on penalties. In Serie A, they began with a draw away at Parma, followed by a goalless home draw against relegation-threatened Venezia. They later staged a comeback from 0-2 to draw 2-2 at home against Monza, but their most recent outing was a 3-2 loss away to Atalanta. Despite leading twice in the first half, Fiorentina couldn’t hold on, conceding all three goals by halftime and failing to score again in the second half.

Palladino and Baroni will meet for the fourth time on Sunday. In their previous three encounters across the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons, they each claimed one win and had one draw. In May 2023, Baroni, then in charge of Lecce, secured a 1-0 win over Palladino's Monza thanks to a last-minute penalty by Colombo, which ensured Lecce’s survival in Serie A. Palladino’s sole victory came in November 2022, when his Monza side defeated Hellas Verona 3-1, with two goals from Colombo and another from Caldirola. The return match ended in a 0-0 draw, a valuable result in Verona’s fight for survival.