Fiorentina lose 3-0 to Frosinone at home during 100th-anniversary celebrations

Fiorentina lost 3-0 to Frosinone at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Saturday afternoon as the club marked its 100th anniversary, handing a major dampener to the centenary events. The defeat left Fiorentina without a goal in their first two Serie A matches and intensified scrutiny on the team during the milestone weekend.

Fans began the centenary several days before the match, gathering beneath the marble façade of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella on the evening of 25 August and watching a firework display beside the Arno at midnight. The club was founded on 29 August 1926, although supporters have traditionally celebrated on the 26th; monuments across Florence were lit purple and a limited-edition replica of the team’s original half red, half white shirts, priced at €180, sold out in less than two hours. Giuseppe Commisso addressed the crowd during the festivities and at least one former player, Borja Valero, was among those present. Before kick-off Fiorentina hosted former players and coaches, including Gabriel Batistuta, Rui Costa, Adrien Mutu and Cesare Prandelli, at a lunch at their Viola Park headquarters.

Planned renovations to the Stadio Artemio Franchi were not completed in time for the centenary, leaving the Curva Fiesole closed, but the ultras staged a choreography at the opposite end recreating the original club badge. Supporters remained upbeat despite an opening 4-0 defeat by Roma earlier in the season and heavy summer investment: the club spent more than €120m on new players, signing Christ Inao Oulaï, Víctor Valdepeñas from Real Madrid Castilla, Arthur Atta and Mateo Pellegrino, while Radu Dragusin and Álex Jiménez joined from Tottenham and Bournemouth. The squad also includes the 19-year-old Franco Mastantuono, whom the article reports Real Madrid paid €45m to sign from River Plate last August. Fabio Grosso is the new manager charged with integrating the arrivals.

Fiorentina began the match on the front foot with Mastantuono operating on the right and Albert Gudmundsson on the left; Álex Jiménez contributed with overlapping runs from full-back. The first real warning came in the 25th minute when Frosinone countered from a Fiorentina free-kick; Seydou Fini was dispossessed as he checked back and Antonio Raimondo reacted in visible frustration. A minute later, Giorgi Kvernadze ran to the goal-line down the left and cut back for Raimondo to convert at the near post and open the scoring.

Fiorentina responded with chances: Arthur Atta forced a save from Lorenzo Palmisani and Mastantuono and Valdepeñas struck the left post on separate occasions. Mastantuono produced a notable piece of control with his heel before going to ground under contact from Gabriele Bracaglia; the stadium appealed for a penalty, and Mastantuono then nutmegged an opponent as he struck against the far upright. The first-half injury to Fiorentina momentum was compounded in the 38th minute when Bracaglia headed home from a corner to make it 2-0.

Grosso introduced substitutions after half-time but the team could not mount a recovery and Raimondo completed his brace in the 68th minute with a chest-down and outside-of-the-boot finish to make it 3-0. The result came against a Frosinone side that only narrowly avoided relegation to Italy’s third tier in 2025 after they were set to contest a play-out with Salernitana before a points deduction for Brescia altered the standings. La Gazzetta dello Sport had predicted Frosinone would struggle last season, a bulletin that manager Massimiliano Alvini used as motivation by showing it to his players at the start of their promotion run; Alvini’s only previous Serie A experience was an 18-game, winless spell with Cremonese four years ago, and he has worked largely in the lower divisions for around 25 years while maintaining an active LinkedIn page.

The defeat left Fiorentina with their worst-ever start to a Serie A season, having lost the first two matches by a combined seven goals, and marked the first time the club began a top-flight campaign being shut out in back-to-back defeats. Milan 2-0 Venezia, Sassuolo 2-1 Torino, Monza 2-3 Udinese, Fiorentina 0-3 Frosinone, Juventus 2-0 Parma, Napoli 1-2 Como, Lazio 1-0 Genoa, Cagliari 0-1 Inter. Giuseppe Commisso recalled his father Rocco’s investment since taking over in 2019 and the development of Viola Park, and said he wanted to continue that legacy after Rocco’s death in January.

Speaking on the pitch as part of the centenary programme, Commisso said: “Our family’s total financial commitment to Fiorentina is €1.1bn,” and added, “This summer Fiorentina made the largest single transfer window investment in new players in the history of the club.” Many fans remained for the reintroduction of club legends but also expressed their displeasure with whistles; Commisso said, “Today, on Fiorentina’s 100th anniversary, I am not declaring that we have arrived, I am declaring that we have begun again,” said Commisso, swapping between English and Italian. “From this fresh start, Fiorentina’s Renaissance will commence.”