Frosinone arrived at the Stadio Artemio Franchi as visitors and left as the story of the opening Serie A weekend, beating Fiorentina 0-3 with a performance built on early aggression and finished by Antonio Raimondo's brace.
The match turned in a twelve-minute corridor between the 26th and 38th minutes. Antonio Raimondo had already drawn a yellow card in the 8th minute — and another Frosinone player was cautioned in the 24th minute, the same minute Fiorentina's Álex Jiménez was cautioned — when the visitors opened the scoring two minutes later. Raimondo, Frosinone's centre-forward, converted with an assist from winger Giorgi Kvernadze to give Massimiliano Alvini's side the opener. Fiorentina, managed by Fabio Grosso, had no answer before the interval: a second Frosinone goal arrived on 38 minutes, this time assisted by Calò, with the scorer unrecorded in the official feed. The visitors went into the break two goals to the good.
The second half offered Fiorentina a chance to reshape the contest, and Grosso moved quickly — Viery and Nicolò Fagioli both came on in the 61st minute, replacing Marin Pongračić and Cher Ndour respectively. The double change altered the shape but not the scoreline. On 68 minutes, Raimondo struck again, this time without a recorded assist, to make it 3-0 and end any realistic prospect of a Fiorentina recovery. Grosso sent on Marco Brescianini and Rolando Mandragora in the 71st minute, withdrawing Christ Inao Oulaï and Albert Guðmundsson — the latter having already collected a yellow card in the 49th minute. Five substitutions from Fiorentina across the second half produced four yellow cards across the ninety minutes and no goals.
Raimondo was the decisive figure. The Frosinone forward opened the scoring with Kvernadze's assistance in the 26th minute, then returned in the 68th to seal the result when the match was still, theoretically, alive. His withdrawal in the 89th minute — replaced by Daniel Bîrligea — came with the work long done. What made Raimondo's contribution significant was not just the volume but the timing: the first goal arrived when Fiorentina were still finding their footing, and the third arrived precisely when the home side had committed their resources to pressing forward.
Fiorentina's evening was shaped by an inability to threaten. Four yellow cards, five substitutions, and a starting lineup that listed Guðmundsson and Franco Mastantuono as forwards produced nothing in front of goal. The caution shown to Guðmundsson in the 49th minute — early in the second half, when Fiorentina needed composure — reflected a broader frustration that never translated into pressure. The team's defensive structure also offered little resistance: conceding twice before half-time against a Frosinone side that had themselves lost their opening Serie A fixture against Juventus the previous weekend suggests Grosso's defensive organisation remains a work in progress.
Frosinone's trajectory runs in the opposite direction: six points from their last three, seven goals scored and only two conceded, with their sole defeat coming against Juventus. That form arc, not just the scoreline, is what makes this result significant. Frosinone arrived at the Franchi having already demonstrated they could compete; they left having demonstrated they could dismantle.
A month from now, this match will be remembered as the afternoon Antonio Raimondo announced himself on a Fiorentina side that had no answer for him, and no goals of their own to offer in reply.