Despite the lack of confidence no doubt present among the Fiorentina squad largely due to the fact that they are still yet to register a win in Serie A this season, the hosts had the first big chance of this game as Dodo’s inviting cross was met by Edin Dzeko, but the veteran could only nod just over after outjumping Dynamo centre-back Vladyslav Zakharchenko, who is 20 years his junior.
Dzeko was left despairing again on 17 minutes as his goalbound effort was inadvertently blocked by his strike partner, Moise Kean, who then saw his shot on the follow-up blocked by Ruslan Neshcheret.
A minute later, though, Kean had scored, powering home Dodo’s precision cross. From that moment, Fiorentina had their tails up, and Kean may have doubled his and La Viola’s advantage on 36 minutes, but couldn’t get a good enough connection on his shot after barrelling into the box.
Heading into half-time, the only frustration for Fiorentina head coach Paolo Vanoli - apart from the fact that his team could have been leading by more - was a yellow card dished out to Cher Ndour, who will now be suspended for their final league-phase game of the campaign away to Lausanne-Sport next Thursday.
Vanoli’s opposite number, meanwhile, the newly appointed Ihor Kostiuk, will have wanted his side to test David de Gea after the break following his untroubled first half. That did happen on 54 minutes when De Gea repelled Nazar Voloshyn’s strike, but the Spaniard could do nothing about Mykola Mykhaylenko’s thunderbolt a minute later to round off a sweeping Dynamo move in fine style.
Fiorentina looked to retake the lead immediately, with Kean agonisingly hitting the side-netting from a corner, before Mykhaylenko tried another sighter and Dynamo forward Eduardo Guerrero headed over. The stage was set for a fascinating finale, and it was substitute Albert Gudmundsson who proved the hero, seizing on the loose ball to convert on 74 minutes after Neshcheret had denied Kean.
Kean had another opportunity to truly make the game safe late on, but Fiorentina, who have twice previously made the final of this competition when it was called the UEFA Europa Conference League, hung on to keep their dreams of doing so again alive. Dynamo’s qualification hopes, by contrast, look slim at best, as they currently languish in 28th.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Dodo (Fiorentina)
