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Fiorentina need only a point to qualify after thumping Debrecen 5-2 with five different goalscorers. Lyon's 1-1 draw with Liverpool means the Tuscans can celebrate qualification for the next round with a stalemate against the French outfit at the Franchi.
The Viola could taste qualification from a very tough group after back-to-back wins over Liverpool and Debrecen. They beat the Hungarians 4-3 in a spectacular encounter, but this time around were without Stevan Jovetic and Sebastien Frey. Adrian Mutu recovered from a knee injury to start, but Marco Donadel was preferred to Riccardo Montolivo. Debrecen missed Robert Feczesin and Norbert Meszaros, while striker Adamo Coulibaly was surprisingly benched.
There was an horrific injury early on for Debrecen defender Adam Komlosi, who accidentally clashed heads with Dario Dainelli and was bleeding so heavily he had to be substituted. Zoltan Kiss came on and moved Marcell Fodor back into the defence.
Mutu scored a brace in the last meeting between these teams and he broke the deadlock again. He was left totally unmarked around the penalty spot for a diving header on Marco Marchionni's chipped cross from the right.
Avramov comfortably controlled a Gergely Rudolf strike, while Alberto Gilardino nodded the Juan Manuel Vargas free kick just wide. Marchionni combined with Gila for a double chance, the first charged down and the second saved by Pantic.
The Hungarians went on the counter and Avramov got down to block a Zsolt Laczko angled drive.
There was bad news when Alessandro Gamberini pulled up clutching the back of his thigh, so limped off to make way for Per Kroldrup.
Gilardino was so close to making it 2-0 when he rose to nod a Vargas corner on to the crossbar with the Debrecen goalkeeper rooted to the spot.
It proved a costly miss, as soon after Debrecen equalised with Rudolf. A long Leandro ball from the left bounced past a very static Kroldrup, allowing Rudolf to acrobatically volley in from eight yards. He had also scored in the first meeting.
There was an immediate reaction as Pantic used his thigh to parry a Gilardino strike from point-blank range. From the corner a Vargas volley was deflected over, but Avramov flapped at a set piece and was fortunate nobody was ready to take advantage.
Montolivo came on for the second half and within a minute Gilardino had turned his stop and volley wide of the near post.
Moments later Mutu's fierce right-foot screamer was fingertipped round the upright by Pantic, as Fiorentina were piling on the pressure. It was a wonderful team move that started from midfield with one-touch football involving four players. From the resulting corner, Pantic smothered a Montolivo effort.
Pantic was under siege and stuck out a foot to parry Mutu's daisy-cutter, the defence scrambling clear before Gila could pounce. The corner came out to the D where Montolivo's blockbuster forced another save out of the Debrecen goalkeeper.
The move continued and finally went into the net, as a cross was whipped in from the right for Dainelli's towering header. This time Pantic mistimed his jump, but the defeder was also brave to risk injury in getting to Gianluca Comotto's cross.
It was 3-1 with substitute Montolivo. Vargas did great work down the left and chipped in a cross that went past Gila, but found the unmarked Montolivo come sliding in from six yards.
Marchionni added another to the rout, as Fiorentina stepped on the gas with three goals in eight minutes. It was a corker, as the through ball allowed him to spring the offside trap and cheekily flick the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper.
It was the first ever Champions League goal for Dainelli, Montolivo and Marchionni.
Debrecen made it 4-2 thanks to a howler from Avramov, who flapped meekly at a Coulibaly free header from six yards.
There were seven goals in Hungary when these sides met and again hit that mark, as Gilardino got a glancing header to a Vargas free kick from the right.
Czvitkovics drilled inches wide at the end of a very entertaining game.
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