Khouma Babacar and Mauro Zarate bagged braces as Fiorentina flattened 10-man Qarabag with a 5-1 scoreline.

See how it unfolded on the LIVEBLOG.

The Viola were held to a goalless draw at PAOK Salonika and had been firing blanks in Serie A too, so used Khouma Babacar, Nikola Kalinic and Federico Bernardeschi together. Sebastien De Maio and birthday boy Carlos Salcedo started, as Gonzalo Rodriguez and Davide Astori were injured.

Khouma Babacar and Mauro Zarate bagged braces as Fiorentina flattened 10-man Qarabag with a 5-1 scoreline.

See how it unfolded on the LIVEBLOG.

The Viola were held to a goalless draw at PAOK Salonika and had been firing blanks in Serie A too, so used Khouma Babacar, Nikola Kalinic and Federico Bernardeschi together. Sebastien De Maio and birthday boy Carlos Salcedo started, as Gonzalo Rodriguez and Davide Astori were injured.

The Azerbaijani side had a strong start and Dani Quintana drilled just wide of the near post and Ismayilov’s free kick floated over Ciprian Tatarusanu to clip the crossbar.

However, Qarabag went down to 10 men after half an hour when Yunuszada used his hand to intercept a Babacar through ball that was sending Kalinic clear on goal.

Soon after, Federico Bernardeschi’s free kick was parried and the goalkeeper beat away another Kalinic set play, but this time Babacar was ready for the acrobatic follow-up to put Fiorentina in front.

The second goal was magnificent, as Sebastian Cristoforo’s through ball was back-heeled by Cristian Tello for Kalinic to finish from six yards.

On the stroke of half-time, Kalinic burst down the left and rolled across, where Babacar peeled away from his marker to tap in the third.

The Azerbaijani side did not give in and Reynaldo forced Tatarusanu into a save after the restart, while Kalinic saw his effort blocked by Sehic.

Fiorentina had a great chance that didn’t go in, as Matias Vecino latched on to the rebound from another Kalinic attempt, but it bounced off the underside of the bar, off the goalline and back out.

The Viola did get their fourth goal and a very special one too. Mauro Zarate came off the bench and within a couple of minutes had unleashed a scorcher from distance. It was his first goal since returning after time off to nurse his wife through cancer surgery.

Federico Chiesa’s attempt was charged down inside the box and Zarate completed his brace, curling a free kick into the near top corner.

Zarate almost made it a treble, Sehic tipping it over the bar, but there was a consolation for Qarabag when Dino Ndlovu curled a spectacular left-foot finish into the far top corner from a tight angle down the right.

Fiorentina 5-1 Qarabag

Babacar 39, 45 (F), Kalinic 43 (F), Zarate 63, 78 (F), Ndlovu 92 (Q)

Fiorentina: Tatarusanu; Tomovic, De Maio, Salcedo; Tello, Cristoforo, Sanchez (Vecino 46), Maxi Olivera; Bernardeschi (Chiesa 61), Babacar, Kalinic (Zarate 61)

Qarabag: Sehic; M Medvedev, Yunuszada, RF Sadygov, Agolli; Michel, Richard Almeida; Ismayilov (Muarem 60), Amirguliyev, Dani Quintana (Huseynov 46); Reynaldo (Ndlovu 84)

Ref: Drachta (AUT)

Sent off: Yunuszada 30 (Q)

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