Nigerian striker Gift Orban scored a brace to guide Hellas Verona to a crucial 2-1 win over Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, Soccernet.ng reports.
After missing Verona’s unprecedented 3-1 win over Atalanta in midweek, Orban was named among the substitutes when the team traveled to Florence for their Serie A fixture against Fiorentina.
The home side were the slight favorites heading into the game, but with both teams wallowing in the relegation zone, the match outcome could have swung either way.
Orban, who started on the bench, got an early chance just 35 minutes in when teammate Giovane suffered an injury. Coach Paolo Zanetti subsequently replaced the injured player with the Nigerian striker.
Orban’s introduction immediately added a jolt of sharpness to Hellas Verona’s frontline amidst Fiorentina’s dominance.
Just seven minutes after entering the game, Orban broke the deadlock. He controlled a pass from Al Musrati on the edge of the box and unleashed a precise strike that found the bottom-right corner of Fiorentina’s goal. Verona held their narrow lead into halftime.
In the second half, Fiorentina pushed hard for the equalizer. However, their attempts, notably from players like Moise Kean, Nicolò Fagioli, and Simon Sohm, failed to convert their opportunities.
Fiorentina eventually got their breakthrough in the 69th minute when Verona defender Unai Nunez inadvertently put the ball into his own net to level the scores at 1-1.
It seemed the game was headed for a draw, but Orban came up big in stoppage time with the golden goal that sealed the win for the Gialloblu.
In the 93rd minute, he latched onto a pass from Antoine Bernede in the box and fired a low shot to the bottom-left corner of the goal, making it 2-1.
That decisive goal was the dagger Verona needed to claim the 2-1 victory away from home— their first at the Artemio Franchi since January 2018.
More to follow…