Torino vs Fiorentina: Preview

Fiorentina’s seen its draw in the Conference League and now gets to return its focus to Serie A with a trip north to take on Torino. Il Toro got pumped 5-0 by Inter Milan in its opener so these are both teams looking for their first league win of the season, and it may be that the vibes in the Viola camp are considerably better than those in its Granata counterpart, strange as it may seem.

The match will be played Sunday, 31 August 2025, at 4:30 PM GMT/12:30 PM EST, at the Stadio Olimpico Torino in Turin. The forecast calls for another hot, sticky afternoon, so don’t be surprised to see some tired legs, especially from the guys who played against Polissya on Thursday.

Three things to watch for

1. Vibes versus exhaustion. 5-0 in the season opener is a pretty tough way to start for a team that seemed to be doing pretty well in the mercato, picking up solid reinforcements across the pitch and got Duván Zapata back from injury. Turns out new boss Marco Baroni’s still getting a handle on things; rumors of Inter’s demise are vastly overstated but Torino made things very easy, giftwrapping a couple of goals while trying to play out from the back.

Fiorentina’s had its own issues at the back—David de Gea and Pietro Comuzzo send their regards—but have looked considerably more solid. The issue is that Dodô and Nicolò Fagioli have both played all 90 minutes in all 3 games so far and may not have the legs to do so again. There’s nothing resembling a replacement for either currently on the roster, so Stefano Pioli may have to scheme something up.

To me, that’s the primary battle. Baroni won’t be able to fix the patterns of play he’s spent all summer installing with another week of training, even though Fiorentina’s hardly the pressing force that Inter is. Pioli, meanwhile, will have to figure out how to make his lineup work even if he doesn’t have his stars firing on all cylinders, especially with the heat likely to be a factor.

2. Working through the lines. Polissya did a good job of pinning Fiorentina’s midfield by dropping the wingers central and pushing the fullbacks onto the Viola wingbacks, basically going 1-v-1 across the pitch. It was a risky strategy but worked because Edin Džeko didn’t have the pace to get in behind. That won’t be the case with Kean up front but Ruslan Rotan has given Baroni (whose 4-3-3 does some similar things) a useful template.

The gap in the middle of the pitch has been concerning for Fiorentina fans. Basically, the back 3 and Nicolò Fagioli are one unit, with the other two midfielders and the forwards a distinctly separate group. The other Viola midfielders haven’t checked in to provide useful passing options, and while Albert Guðmundsson’s willing to do that, he’s a liability on the ball in deep positions. Gosens goes to offer height and width, leaving Dodô as the only one providing even a remote connection between the front and the back.

Pioli’s main job has to be finding a way to get up the pitch at pace when the ball’s at the back. Fagioli’s set the tempo well but hasn’t been able to break the lines. For my money, the best solution is dropping another midfielder deeper (Hans Nicolussi Caviglia looks perfect for this job) while leaving one of Sohm/Mandragora/Ndour roving, but getting the outside centerbacks in particular to take more responsibility in the buildup phase could work too. Whatever the solution, though, we need to see something different.

3. Feed the Moose. Last week against Cagliari, Moise Kean had 6 touches in 90 minutes. You don’t need to be some pencil-necked nerd to know that’s a bad combination of numbers. Fabio Pisacane planned a good defensive system that Yerry Mina and Sebastiano Luperto executed brilliantly.

It was also a system that played to their strengths, as they were both allowed to sit very deep, negating Kean’s pace in behind. His job was exclusively running over the top but the line was so deep that he didn’t have space, and Luperto was always there to disrupt his run a bit and ensure he didn’t get a clean release while chasing the ball.

Kean’s more than just a sprinter, though. He’s very strong and good at winning free kicks as he holds up the ball. If Fiorentina can’t find him over the top, I’d like to seen an effort to involve him a little bit more and maybe send Guðmundsson or Sohm on vertical decoy runs to make a bit of space for him. Kean’s certainly at his best using his pace in behind, but he’s the team’s best player. If there’s no space in behind, he still needs to get on the ball more.

Possible lineups

Ted’s Memorial Blind Guess Department

The bookies are low on Torino after last week but I think the line might’ve dipped a bit too low. Baroni’s a competent coach with some good players and has an advantage both in being at home and having a full week of training. Fiorentina, on the other hand, played on Thursday and is still getting to grips with Pioli’s tactics.

Even so, I’ll back the visitors to take their first Serie A win of the season. The combination of Kean and new boy Roberto Piccoli (likely to debut in the second half) is so physically overwhelming that Torino’s defense will have trouble, and neither of the fullbacks are particularly defensively minded. That means the holding midfielder will have to drop in, ceding a lot more space in midfield, or leave the strikers 2-v-2 against the centerbacks, a prospect Baroni won’t relish.

I think it’ll be tight but I’ll go with a 1-2 win for the Viola, with goals for Kean and Sohm sandwiching a Givoanni Simeone strike assisted by Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina beffata x2). This feels like it could be a really good tactical battle that also turns very physical, so good for the neutral, but I also think it could be Pioli’s first chance to really showcase his strategic mind.

Forza Viola!