1998–99 A.C. Fiorentina season

Associazione Calcio Fiorentina enjoyed its best season in the 1990s on the pitch, but was left wondering what might have been. Leading the domestic Serie A championship a long way into the season, Fiorentina's title charge fell to pieces, as it lost unnecessary points while eventual champions Milan and runners-up Lazio continued winning their matches. In the end, Fiorentina salvaged third place in the league, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League in 1999–2000.

Fiorentina

1998–99 season
President	Vittorio Cecchi Gori
Manager	Giovanni Trapattoni
Stadium	Stadio Artemio Franchi
Serie A	3rd
Coppa Italia	Runners-up
UEFA Cup	Second round (disqualified)
Top goalscorer	League: Gabriel Batistuta (21) All: Gabriel Batistuta (26)
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Its European adventure in 1998–99 however, ended early, when a handmade bomb was thrown at a linesman in the victory against Swiss side Grasshoppers. The linesman escaped serious injury, but Fiorentina were declared losers of the match, despite its victory on the pitch, and were thus thrown out of the tournament. However, it avoided further sanctions. Fiorentina also lost the Coppa Italia Final to Parma, marking another season without titles.

Several players were impressive, with the trio Gabriel Batistuta, Rui Costa and Francesco Toldo being the players really standing out. The defensive line-up and the many goals conceded were the main reasons Fiorentina would not win the title.

Players

Goalkeepers

• Francesco Toldo
• Alessandro Zandonà
• Gianmatteo Mareggini

Defenders

• Tomáš Řepka
• Moreno Torricelli
• Stefano Bettarini
• Pasquale Padalino
• Aldo Firicano
• Roberto Mirri
• Giulio Falcone
• Andrea Tarozzi

Midfielders

• Guillermo Amor
• Emiliano Bigica
• Rui Costa
• Sandro Cois
• Jörg Heinrich
• Christian Amoroso
• Domenico Morfeo

Forwards

• Gabriel Batistuta
• Edmundo
• Carmine Esposito
• Francesco Flachi
• Anselmo Robbiati
• Luís Oliveira

Competitions

Serie A

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Milan (C)	34	20	10	4	59	34	+25	70	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Lazio	34	20	9	5	65	31	+34	69
3	Fiorentina	34	16	8	10	55	41	+14	56	Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
4	Parma	34	15	10	9	55	36	+19	55
5	Roma	34	15	9	10	69	49	+20	54[lower-alpha 1]	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round

Source: Serie A, RSSSF.com, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Draw. (Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played).[1]
(C) Champion.
Notes:

1. ROM 7pts. JUV 5pts. UDI 4pts.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	16	8	10	55	41	+14	56	13	4	0	36	10	+26	3	4	10	19	31	−12

Last updated: 25 July 2015.
Source: Competitive matches

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A
Result	W	W	W	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	D	W	W	D	W	L	W	W	W	D	L	D	D	W	L	W	L	D	L	L	W	L	D	D

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

12 September 1998 1	Fiorentina	2–0	Empoli	Florence
	Rui Costa  5' Batistuta  60'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 34,343 Referee: Alfredo Trentalange

20 September 1998 2	Vicenza	1–2	Fiorentina	Vicenza
	Padalino  67' (o.g.)	Report	Batistuta  1' Oliveira  71'	Stadium: Stadio Romeo Menti Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Graziano Cesari

26 September 1998 3	Milan	1–3	Fiorentina	Milan
	Bierhoff  70' (pen.)	Report	Batistuta  6', 46', 52'	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Stefano Braschi

4 October 1998 4	Fiorentina	1–0	Udinese	Florence
	Edmundo  90+2'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 34,000 Referee: Stefano Braschi

17 October 1998 5	Roma	2–1	Fiorentina	Rome
	Alenichev  89' Totti  90+4'	Report	Batistuta  32'	Stadium: Stadio Olimpico Attendance: 62,000 Referee: Livio Bazzoli

25 October 1998 6	Fiorentina	4–0	Salernitana	Florence
	Edmundo  50', 89' Batistuta  68', 90+2'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Alfredo Trentalange

31 October 1998 7	Parma	2–0	Fiorentina	Parma
	Crespo  36', 52'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Piero Ceccarini

8 November 1998 8	Fiorentina	4–1	Venezia	Florence
	Padalino  23' Batistuta  40', 65' Rui Costa  64' (pen.)	Report	Schwoch  42' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Referee: Massimo De Santis

15 November 1998 9	Piacenza	4–2	Fiorentina	Piacenza
	Rastelli  12' S. Inzaghi  29' (pen.) Cristallini  59' Piovani  90+4'	Report	Rui Costa  23' (pen.) Edmundo  40' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadio Leonardo Garilli Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Salvatore Racalbuto

22 November 1998 10	Fiorentina	3–1	Internazionale	Florence
	Padalino  5' Batistuta  16' Heinrich  75'	Report	Djorkaeff  3' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 41,000 Referee: Pasquale Rodomonti

29 November 1998 11	Bari	0–0	Fiorentina	Bari
		Report		Stadium: Stadio San Nicola Attendance: 26,000 Referee: Piero Ceccarini

5 December 1998 12	Fiorentina	1–0	Bologna	Florence
	Batistuta  56'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Stefano Braschi

13 December 1998 13	Fiorentina	1–0	Juventus	Florence
	Batistuta  58'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Stefano Farina

20 December 1998 14	Perugia	2–2	Fiorentina	Perugia
	Rapaić  1' Nakata  90+5' (pen.)	Report	Robbiati  10' Batistuta  74'	Stadium: Stadio Renato Curi Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Graziano Cesari

6 January 1999 15	Fiorentina	1–0	Sampdoria	Florence
	Rui Costa  28'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 36,223 Referee: Pierluigi Collina

10 January 1999 16	Lazio	2–0	Fiorentina	Rome
	Vieri  66' Mihajlović  90'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Olimpico Attendance: 69,000 Referee: Livio Bazzoli

17 January 1999 17	Fiorentina	4–2	Cagliari	Florence
	Batistuta  7', 79', 89' Edmundo  76'	Report	O'Neill  32' De Patre  59'	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 33,073 Referee: Pasquale Rodomonti

24 January 1999 18	Empoli	0–3	Fiorentina	Empoli
		Report	Heinrich  77' Rui Costa  81' Edmundo  83'	Stadium: Stadio Carlo Castellani Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Stefano Braschi

31 January 1999 19	Fiorentina	3–0	Vicenza	Florence
	Falcone  36' Torricelli  39' Batistuta  83'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Gennaro Borriello

7 February 1999 20	Fiorentina	0–0	Milan	Florence
		Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 42,000 Referee: Alfredo Trentalange

14 February 1999 21	Udinese	1–0	Fiorentina	Udine
	Sosa  80'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Friuli Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Piero Ceccarini

21 February 1999 22	Fiorentina	0–0	Roma	Florence
		Report		Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 43,170 Referee: Gennaro Borriello

28 February 1999 23	Salernitana	1–1	Fiorentina	Salerno
	Di Vaio  75'	Report	Torricelli  86'	Stadium: Stadio Arechi Attendance: 33,000 Referee: Fiorenzo Treossi

7 March 1999 24	Fiorentina	2–1	Parma	Florence
	Oliveira  42' Rui Costa  55' (pen.)	Report	Stanić  64'	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 34,000 Referee: Pasquale Rodomonti

14 March 1999 25	Venezia	4–1	Fiorentina	Venice
	Recoba  18', 45+2', 90+1' Miceli  42'	Report	Esposito  88' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadio Pierluigi Penzo Attendance: 12,630 Referee: Domenico Messina

21 March 1999 26	Fiorentina	2–1	Piacenza	Florence
	Batistuta  6' Esposito  90+1'	Report	S. Inzaghi  71' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 33,400 Referee: Pierluigi Collina

3 April 1999 27	Internazionale	2–0	Fiorentina	Milan
	Ronaldo  45' (pen.), 83' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: San Siro Referee: Alfredo Trentalange

11 April 1999 28	Fiorentina	2–2	Bari	Florence
	Rui Costa  41' Padalino  72'	Report	Osmanovski  66' Guerrero  89'	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Referee: Pasquale Rodomonti

17 April 1999 29	Bologna	3–0	Fiorentina	Bologna
	Simutenkov  28' Bettarini  62' Kolyvanov  69'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Renato Dall'Ara Attendance: 28,000 Referee: Graziano Cesari

25 April 1999 30	Juventus	2–1	Fiorentina	Turin
	Inzaghi  24' Conte  87'	Report	Tacchinardi  85' (o.g.)	Stadium: Stadio delle Alpi Attendance: 46,900 Referee: Fiorenzo Treossi

2 May 1999 31	Fiorentina	5–1	Perugia	Florence
	Batistuta  40' Rui Costa  42', 67' Edmundo  76' (pen.), 90+2'	Report	Firicano  78' (o.g.)	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Pasquale Rodomonti

9 May 1999 32	Sampdoria	3–2	Fiorentina	Genoa
	Montella  29', 51' Palmieri  78'	Report	Rui Costa  20' (pen.) Heinrich  41'	Stadium: Stadio Luigi Ferraris Referee: Roberto Bettin

15 May 1999 33	Fiorentina	1–1	Lazio	Florence
	Batistuta  14'	Report	Vieri  27'	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Fiorenzo Treossi

23 May 1999 34	Cagliari	1–1	Fiorentina	Cagliari
	Muzzi  90+3'	Report	Zebina  40' (o.g.)	Stadium: Stadio Sant'Elia Referee: Emilio Pellegrino

Coppa Italia

UEFA Cup

First round

15 September 1998 First leg	Fiorentina	2–1	Hajduk Split	Bari, Italy
20:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Esposito  49' Edmundo  50', 81' Heinrich  56' Torricelli  73'	Report	Biliškov  30' Brajković  32' Skoko  38' Vučko  44'	Stadium: Stadio San Nicola Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Graham Barber (England)

29 September 1998 Second leg	Hajduk Split	0–0 (1–2 agg.)	Fiorentina	Split, Croatia
18:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Biliškov  50' Baturina  52'	Report	Cois  21' Padalino  54' Toldo  73'	Stadium: Stadion Poljud Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Claude Colombo (France)

Second round

20 October 1998 First leg	Grasshopper	0–2	Fiorentina	Zürich, Switzerland
19:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Esposito  12' Comisetti  63' Christ  67'	Report	Amoroso  1' Batistuta  20' Robbiati  48',  73' Torricelli  64' Padalino  87'	Stadium: Hardturm Referee: Graham Poll (England)

3 November 1998 Second leg	Fiorentina	0–3 (Awarded) (2–3 agg.)	Grasshopper	Salerno, Italy
20:45 CET (UTC+01:00)	Oliveira  12', 38' Falcone  33'	Report	Cabanas  28' Gren  30'	Stadium: Stadio Arechi Referee: Michel Piraux (Belgium)
Note: The match was abandoned at halftime with the score 2–1 after an official was injured by a firework. Grasshopper were awarded a 3–0 win and advanced 3–2 on aggregate.

Statistics

Goalscorers

• Gabriel Batistuta 21
• Rui Costa 9 (3)
• Edmundo 8

References

1. Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio – La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 "Norme organizzative interne della F.I.G.C. – Art. 51.6" (PDF) (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.