Fiorentina wins again amid tributes to Bove
Fiorentina moved to within three points of Serie A leader Atalanta with a 1-0 win over Cagliari in the first league match since midfielder Edoardo Bove's sudden collapse last weekend.`
Danilo Cataldi scored the winner in the 24th minute, moving Raffaele Palladino's side up to fourth, level on 31 points with third-placed Inter Milan and a point behind Napoli ahead of its match with Lazio in the day's late fixture.
Fiorentina has now won eight matches straight in Serie A, a feat not achieved by the club since April 1960.
It has a game in hand, as does Inter, on the title rivals with the abandoned fixture between the two sides as a result of Bove's collapse yet to be rescheduled.
Bove, 22, remains in Florence's Careggi hospital a week later, where he continues to undergo tests.
Italian media has reported that his fledgling career, in Italy at least, is effectively over.
Prior to kick-off against Cagliari, Fiorentina captain Luca Ranieri expressed anger at reports that Bove was set to have a defibrillator fitted, which would force him to look for a club abroad because of the health regulations in Italian sport, which forced Danish midfielderChristian Eriksen to leave Inter in 2021 after his cardiac arrest while playing for Denmark at the European championship.
"I ask for a bit of respect for both him and for his privacy because a series of untrue things have been written and said about him," Ranieri said.
Palladino also insisted that he and his players were "waiting to welcome him back on the pitch soon".
Cataldi dedicated his goal to Bove, with the pair on loan at Fiorentina from capital clubs Lazio and Roma respectively.
The 30-year-old ran to a pitchside camera to make the No.4 – Bove's shirt number – and a heart with his fingers after scoring.
