All things considered, Fiorentina fans have had a lot more things to cry about than to smile about this season. With 13 games left, La Viola occupy the relegation zone and find themselves on track to descend to Serie B for the first time since 2004, with the Tuscany side currently sitting six points above Pisa and Hellas Verona and three away from safety. However, for the first time all season, they have strung together back-to-back victories, having won 2-1 at Como before demolishing Jagiellonia Białystok 3-0 in Poland. In doing so, they killed two birds with one stone, all but securing their spot in the UEFA Conference League Round of 16 and allowing them to put all of their energy into their upcoming match against Pisa.
If Fiorentina are to eke out the victory in their upcoming relegation six-pointer, they’ll need Rolando Mandragora to be at his brilliant best. As opposed to the vast majority of his teammates, Mandragora has not suffered a sharp downturn in his individual form this season; instead, he’s led by example and established himself as a vital cog in midfield. Despite not operating in an attacking role, the 28-year-old ranks second in Fiorentina’s squad for goals (6) and goal contributions (7) in Serie A behind ex-Juventus teammate Moise Kean, whilst he also ranks second for total shots per game (2.0), and third for scoring frequency (goal every 299 minutes) and key passes per game (1.0).
Mandragora looks set to play an essential role as Fiorentina seek to stave off the drop and confirm their spot in Serie A, but he’s also primed to help La Viola pursue yet another deep run in the UEFA Conference League. Since joining in 2022, Mandragora has steered Fiorentina to the final in 2023 and 2024 and the semifinals in 2025, and there’s reason to believe that he could very well help them put an end to a 25-year drought. Indeed, whilst Thursday’s victory in Poland may very well have been a much-needed improved performance for quite a few Fiorentina players, for Mandragora, it was merely another day at the office.
Jagiellonia were able to rattle Fiorentina’s cage and dominate the early proceedings, and it seemed it was only a matter of time before they broke the deadlock. But whilst Fiorentina bent, they never broke thanks in large part to Mandragora, who set the tone early on for his work out of possession. Whether it was stretching out a foot to prevent a pass from reaching its desired target, or anticipating a shot and stepping up with a vital clearance, Mandragora was able to impose himself in a number of ways. And although he conceded two fouls in the first quarter-hour and got booked before the interval, he nevertheless led by example on and off the ball, constantly scanning the pitch and shifting from contributing to the press, shifting horizontally to close down open space, and dropping into defensive roles and offering an extra hand at the back. We can see an example of this in the 20th minute, when after diligently tracking his man, he moves up before gently backing away and awaiting his move. Just as he goes to complete a step-over, Mandragora steps in and whacks the ball out of danger.
Fiorentina’s first chance came in the 24th minute as Mandragora dialed in a tempting free kick towards Robin Gosens, who headed north. Their next opportunity came 14 minutes later as Mandragora, after intensely marking his man and lecturing his teammates about where to position themselves, decided to put on the afterburners and force a giveaway at the halfway line. Whilst Jagiellonia immediately recovered possession, they promptly coughed it up again as Fiorentina congested numbers around the box and rotated the ball around before eventually finding Mandragora, who allowed the ball to roll onto his left before carving out a beautiful cross to Giovanni Fabian, who then fired a tepid volley into Sławomir Abramowicz’s grasp.
The momentum finally swung in Fiorentina’s favor in the 53rd minute as Luca Ranieri headed home from a corner kick. Buoyed by their raucous home support, Jagiellonia responded with wave after wave of pressure, but Fiorentina held firm thanks to their captain without an armband, who helped to direct his teammates to where they should pass and move to, and who constantly had his head on a swivel to spot which spaces needed plugging. And in the 65th minute, he stepped up and executed a deadly free kick into the top left corner.
You could pick Manuel Neuer, Lev Yashin, or any other goalkeeper in the history of the sport, you could tell them exactly where the shot was going – they still would have no means of stopping it. But while Mandragora stole the show with his first-class delivery, it was his dirty work off the ball that really proved essential for the result. Like here, when after noticing his teammate has pushed forward, he pulls towards the byline and holds his ground before calmly intercepting the pass with his chest and quickly dishing it off to another purple shirt. He took a sore one to his back for his troubles, but he’d do it another 1,000 times if it meant preventing a potential scoring opportunity.
But while he stood out thanks to his ability to put out fires and prevent them before they started, he also marvelled thanks to his wand of a left foot. Similar to other players like Emmanuel Gyasi, he has a manner of knowing what to do with the ball before it even arrives at his laces. He barely had any time to grasp the ball before carving through the hosts’ defense like a knife through butter and teeing up an unmarked Fabiano Parisi, who ventured forward to create a scoring chance that ultimately failed to materialize.
Mandragora continued to offer clarity in possession and hold his nerve, be that spraying the ball around with ease or clearing shots out of his own box with power and precision, and even after Roberto Piccoli added a third from the penalty spot, he never let his guard down. Instead, he dug his heels in and defended the result as if his life depended on it, helping Fiorentina secure their first clean sheet since October 23. All things considered, Mandragora registered three key passes and completed each of his three cross attempts, registered two shots, and made 10 defensive contributions en route to a Man of the Match performance. He also made three tackles, four clearances, four recoveries, and won seven of his nine duels, and out of his 49 touches, only 3 were unsuccessful.
Rolando Mandragora has already proven himself as an indispensable figure in both domestic and international competition for Fiorentina, but now, can he help Fiorentina pick up their first home win since January 4?