Fiorentina cruise to victory at Roma to reach Europa League quarter-finals

A scintillating first-half display ensured Fiorentina their place in the Europa League quarter-finals at the expense of Roma.

The game got off to a frantic pace, with Roma's Miralem Pjanic and Fiorentina's Mohamed Salah both coming close in the early minutes.

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The visitors took the lead thanks to a Gonzalo Rodriguez penalty, after Jose Holebas was judged to have brought down Matias Fernandez in the box.

Marcos Alonso doubled Fiorentina's lead nine minutes later, capitalising on Lukasz Skorupski's error after the keeper tried to stop the ball from going out for a corner.

Fiorentina bagged their third when Jose Basanta headed in from a corner, resulting in boos from the home crowd as their side were left needing four goals to qualify.

In the second half, Salah almost made it four after dancing through the Roma defence before his effort struck the top of the bar.

To compound Roma's misery, Adem Ljajic was sent off for a second bookable offence in the dying minutes.

A goalless second half meant Fiorentina cruised through, claiming a 4-1 win on aggregate.