Fiorentina close in on leaders Atalanta

They are three points behind on Serie A table after win over Cagliari

MILAN:

Fiorentina moved t1hree 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.

Eriksen was banned from playing in Italian football after having an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD, fitted but now plays for Manchester United and still represents his country.

"I ask for a bit of respect for both him and for his privacy because a series of untrue things have been written and said about him," said Ranieri.

Palladino also insisted that he and his players were "waiting to welcome him back on the pitch soon".