Viola snatch a point

Torino and Fiorentina shared four goals in an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.

Torino and Fiorentina shared four goals in an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday afternoon. Alessio Cerci put the home side in front in the 40th minute and Gonzalo Rodriguez responded from the penalty spot in the 74th minute. Valter Birsa's first goal for Torino restored their lead two minutes later, but Mounir El Hamdaoui struck five minutes from time to snatch a point for the Viola. Alberto Aquilani, with three goals in Fiorentina's last two games, nearly extended that streak in the 18th minute, but he headed over the crossbar after both sides had spent the first quarter of an hour sizing each other up. Two of those Aquilani goals came against his former club AC Milan, and Cerci followed that example by opening his Torino account against his old employers. A cross from the left was too far in front of Rolando Bianchi, but it was just in front of Cerci, whose effort was pushed into the roof of his own goal by Emiliano Viviano. Mario Santana, another former Viola, nearly followed suit on the stroke of half-time as he beat three defenders, but saw his shot saved by Viviano. Cerci nearly made it two in the 53rd minute when Viviano parried his shot, just too far away from Santana to pounce on the loose ball. Fiorentina started to attack with more intensity and Seferovic struck the outside of the post in the 63rd minute before Adam Ljajic's effort from distance was parried by Jean-Francois Gillet and Manuel Pasqual headed the rebound over. The Viola were given a route back into the game in the 74th minute when Danilo D'Ambrosio was adjudged to have fouled Cuadrado inside the penalty area and Rodriquez scored from the spot. Torino restored their lead within two minutes, though, when Birsa's cross curled into the far corner without the need of a touch from a team-mate. The last wave of Fiorentina attacks yielded another equaliser with Cuadrado feeding the ball into the box from the right and substitute El Hamdaoui hit the ball with the outside of his right boot, curling it through the legs of Angelo Ogbonna and into the far corner of Gillet's goal.