Fiorentina beat Cagliari to keep pace with leaders Atalanta

MILAN: Fiorentina moved three points behind Serie A leaders Atalanta with Sunday´s 1-0 win over Cagliari in their first league match since midfielder Edoardo Bove´s sudden collapse last weekend.

Danilo Cataldi fired in the only goal of the game in the 24th minute to give Fiorentina their eighth straight win in Italy´s top flight, not counting their interrupted match with Inter Milan which was goalless when Bove fell.

Raffaele Palladino´s side sit fourth, level on 31 points with third-placed Inter and a point behind Napoli who can retake their league lead from Atalanta with a win over Lazio in the day´s late fixture.

Fiorentina, who hadn´t won eight in a row in Serie A since April 1960, and Inter both have a game in hand on their title rivals with their abandoned fixture yet to be rescheduled.

Promising midfielder Bove, 22, has been in Florence´s Careggi hospital for a week as he undergoes tests, with reports in Italian media saying that his career in Italy is effectively over.

Before kick-off, 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 due to stringent health regulations in Italian sport. Christian Eriksen had to leave Inter Milan in 2021 in the wake of his cardiac arrest and collapse while playing for Denmark at that year´s European Championship.