Fiorentina won 2-4 at the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo, and the margin was built in a single, ruthless minute — the 29th and 30th — when Fiorentina midfielder Franco Mastantuono scored twice in succession to overturn Venezia's opener and hand Paolo Vanoli's side a lead they would not relinquish.
Venezia forward Akor Adams, assisted by Gianluca Busio, gave the hosts something to believe in at the 22nd minute, a lead that briefly suggested Giovanni Stroppa's side might finally find the result that had eluded them across their opening three Serie A fixtures. The belief lasted seven minutes. Mastantuono levelled at 29', assisted by Álex Jiménez, then immediately went ahead at 30' with Beto providing the assist — two goals in sixty seconds that collapsed whatever structural confidence Venezia had assembled. Busio, the architect of the opener, was withdrawn at 44' before the half was out, a substitution that left the home side reorganising at the worst possible moment.
Mastantuono is the name this match will be remembered by. The Fiorentina midfielder scored three times — at 29', 30', and 84' — and was only withdrawn at 89' once the result was beyond question. The first two goals arrived in that compressed, damaging burst before half-time; the third, unassisted in the data, came with six minutes remaining and confirmed the final margin. A hat-trick across a full match is notable; one in which two of the three goals arrive within sixty seconds of each other is the kind of passage that defines an afternoon. Mastantuono's evening encapsulated everything Fiorentina needed: directness, timing, and the capacity to finish when the home side's shape was still recovering from the first blow.
Venezia's problem was not simply conceding — it was the sequence. Adams' opener at 22' was the kind of goal that can settle a team carrying three straight defeats, and for seven minutes it looked as though Stroppa's side might hold something. Instead, the two-goal collapse before the break rendered the second half a damage-limitation exercise. Substitute Mateo Pellegrino extended the lead to 3-1 at 66', assisted by Fiorentina midfielder Nicolò Fagioli, and Antoine Hainaut's goal at 86' — assisted by Ridgeciano Haps — was the only moment of consolation in a second half that had already been decided. Venezia collected two yellows against Fiorentina's one, and the home side's five substitutions could not alter the fundamental problem: a defence that had conceded seven goals in its first three league matches conceded four more here.
The form context makes this result legible for both sides, though in different ways. Venezia came into this fixture without a point from their opening three Serie A matches, having conceded seven goals in that stretch, and they move to five consecutive defeats across all competitions without scoring a single point. Fiorentina arrived in no better shape on paper — also pointless after three league matches, having conceded nine goals in that same window — but this result changes their trajectory immediately. Across their last three matches including this one, Vanoli's side now show a win, five goals scored, and seven conceded: the defensive numbers remain a concern, but the attacking output here was the sharpest they have produced in the league this season.
A month from now, this match will be remembered as the afternoon Franco Mastantuono turned a fixture between two struggling sides into a one-man argument for Fiorentina's attacking potential.