AFCON 2025
Fiorentina tasted defeat for the first time in the Conference League this season.
Despite a run of poor results in the Serie A, Fiorentina went into the tie as favorites, having won their two previous matches.
However, Daniele Gallopa’s men faced an equally in-form Mainz at the Mewa Arena with two wins in two matches.
Swiss midfielder, Simon Sohm, put the visitors ahead after nine minutes off a simple pass from Roberto Piccoli.
Fiorentina defender deep and protected their lead heading into the break with a goal lead.
However, this host got back into the tie after the hour mark as Jae-Sung Lee found Benedict Hollerbach in space with a fine pass.
Hollerbach made no mistake as he buried the ball into the back of the net to make the scoreline even.
Italian striker, MoIse Kean, missed a glorious chance to put Fiorentina back ahead but failed to direct his effort on target.
Mainz sealed the win in the fifth minute of added time with a Japanese-Korean connection as Jae-Sung Lee met Kaishiru Sano’s lofted pass with a header to help Mainz remain unbeaten.
Meanwhile, the Slovenian side, Celje, remains unbeaten in the Conference League group stage.
Celje came from a goal down to beat Legia Warsaw 2-1 courtesy of two second-half goals from Nikita Iosifov and Zan Karnicnic.
Samsunspor are also unbeaten so far in the Conference League.
The Turkish Super League side brushed aside Malta’s Hamrun in a 3-0 victory at home.
