Vanoli, who replaced Stefano Pioli earlier this month, made seven changes from the team that lost 2-1 to Mainz on matchday three of the competition, with one of those players restored to the starting XI, Edin Dzeko, just failing to latch onto captain Luca Ranieri’s through-ball early on.
It was Fiorentina who had the ball in the net first, only for Albert Gudmundsson’s joy to be short-lived as VAR determined that Ranieri was offside from Cher Ndour’s header following a corner. AEK duly took advantage of that reprieve, taking a 35th-minute lead.
Ndour’s overly powerful pass ricocheted off Dzeko and straight to Stavros Pilios, who combined with Orbelin Pineda down the left and then drifted into the Fiorentina box to divert the Mexican’s cross into the path of Mijat Gacinovic, who finished sharply.
Moments later, Luka Jovic, playing against his old club, came within a whisker of doubling AEK’s advantage as he guided a teasing ball from Pilios over the bar on the stretch, with boos raining down from the Fiorentina fans in response to their side’s poor performance.
Fiorentina certainly have some pedigree to live up to in this competition, having twice been finalists already when it was called the UEFA Europa Conference League, but they continued to struggle to create chances after half-time, with Ranieri flagged offside for the second time tonight after the ball had nestled in the back of the net.
Vanoli had seen enough just after the hour mark, making a double change which included the introduction of Moise Kean. La Viola’s performance levels did not improve, though, and they were fortunate not to go 2-0 down on 73 minutes when Zini’s drive hit David De Gea’s right-hand post.
That moment may have spurred Fiorentina into life, as soon afterwards, Dzeko hit the woodwork with a header from Hans Nicolussi Caviglia’s corner, and Rolando Mandragora fired wastefully over.
At the other end, Jovic almost made it a fairytale return to Stadio Artemio Franchi, but his attempted lob was tipped over by De Gea. Nevertheless, AEK hung on for a priceless win to make it six games without loss in all competitions (W5, D1) and move up to 10th in the league-phase table.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Stavros Pilios (AEK Athens)
