1998–99 AC Fiorentina season
# 1998–99 AC Fiorentina season

Associazione Calcio Fiorentina enjoyed its best season in the 1990s on the pitch, but was left wondering what might have been. Leading the domestic Serie A championship a long way into the season, Fiorentina's title charge fell to pieces, as it lost unnecessary points while eventual champions Milan and runners-up Lazio continued winning their matches. In the end, Fiorentina salvaged third place in the league, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League in 1999–2000.

Its European adventure in 1998–99 however, ended early, when a handmade bomb was thrown at a linesman in the victory against Swiss side Grasshoppers. The linesman escaped serious injury, but Fiorentina were declared losers of the match, despite its victory on the pitch, and were thus thrown out of the tournament. However, it avoided further sanctions. Fiorentina also lost the Coppa Italia Final to Parma, marking another season without titles.

Several players were impressive, with the trio Gabriel Batistuta, Rui Costa and Francesco Toldo being the players really standing out. The defensive line-up and the many goals conceded were the main reasons Fiorentina would not win the title.

## Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Francesco Toldo |
| 2 | DF | CZE | Tomáš Řepka |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Moreno Torricelli |
| 4 | DF | ITA | Stefano Bettarini |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Pasquale Padalino |
| 6 | DF | ITA | Aldo Firicano |
| 7 | MF | ESP | Guillermo Amor |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Emiliano Bigica |
| 9 | FW | ARG | Gabriel Batistuta |
| 10 | MF | POR | Rui Costa |
| 11 | FW | BRA | Edmundo |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Alessandro Zandonà |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Lorenzo Collacchioni |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | MF | ITA | Sandro Cois |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Roberto Mirri |
| 16 | FW | ITA | Carmine Esposito |
| 17 | MF | GER | Jörg Heinrich |
| 19 | DF | ITA | Giulio Falcone |
| 20 | MF | ITA | Domenico Morfeo |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Gianmatteo Mareggini |
| 23 | FW | ITA | Anselmo Robbiati |
| 24 | MF | ITA | Christian Amoroso |
| 25 | FW | BEL | Luís Oliveira |
| 27 | DF | ITA | Andrea Tarozzi |
| — | FW | ITA | Francesco Flachi |

### Transfers

In :

| Pos. | Name | from |
| - | - | - |
| DF | Moreno Torricelli | Juventus |
| MF | Jorg Heinrich | Borussia Dortmund |
| FW | Carmine Esposito | Empoli F.C. |
| DF | Tomas Repka | Sparta Praha |
| MF | Guillermo Amor | FC Barcelona |

Out :

| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| - | - | - | - |
| FW | Francesco Flachi | Ancona Calcio | |
| GK | Valerio Fiori | Piacenza Calcio | |
| DF | Michele Serena | Atletico Madrid | |
| MF | Stefan Schwarz | Valencia CF | |
| MF | Andrei Kanchelskis | Glasgow Rangers | |
| MF | Domenico Morfeo | A.C. Milan | loan |

## Competitions

### Serie A

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Milan (C) | 34 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 59 | 34 | +25 | 70 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Lazio | 34 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 65 | 31 | +34 | 69 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Fiorentina | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 55 | 41 | +14 | 56 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Parma | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 55 | 36 | +19 | 55 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Roma | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 69 | 49 | +20 | 54 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |

* ↑ ROM 7pts. JUV 5pts. UDI 4pts.

**Results summary**

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

Last updated: 25 July 2015. Source: Competitive matches

**Results by round**

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | L | W | D | W | W | D | W | L | W | W | W | D | L | D | D | W | L | W | L | D | L | L | W | L | D | D |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 |

## Statistics

### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Serie A | Serie A |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Toldo | 33 | -39 | 33 | -39 |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Torricelli | 31 | 2 | 31 | 2 |
| 2 | DF | CZE | Repka | 31 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Padalino | 28 | 3 | 28 | 3 |
| 17 | DF | GER | Heinrich | 33 | 3 | 33 | 3 |
| 24 | MF | ITA | Amoroso | 28 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ITA | Cois | 23 | 0 | 22+1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | POR | Rui Costa | 31 | 10 | 31 | 10 |
| 9 | FW | ARG | Batistuta | 28 | 21 | 28 | 21 |
| 11 | FW | BRA | Edmundo | 28 | 8 | 28 | 8 |
| 25 | FW | BEL | Oliveira | 30 | 2 | 27+3 | 2 |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Mareggini | 1 | -2 | 1 | -2 |
| 19 | DF | ITA | Falcone | 26 | 1 | 21+5 | 1 |
| 27 | DF | ITA | Tarozzi | 15 | 0 | 8+7 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ITA | Firicano | 11 | 0 | 8+3 | 0 |
| | FW | ITA | Ficini | 13 | 0 | 5+8 | 0 |
| 16 | FW | ITA | Esposito | 15 | 2 | 4+11 | 2 |
| 23 | FW | ITA | Robbiati | 22 | 1 | 3+19 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | ESP | Amor | 16 | 0 | 3+13 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Bigica | 7 | 0 | 1+6 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ITA | Bettarini | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | ITA | Morfeo | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Mirri | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Zandona | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Collacchioni | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | GRE | Vakouftsis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ITA | Stefani | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/rose/1998/1146/

### Goalscorers

* Gabriel Batistuta 27
* Rui Costa 9 (3)
* Edmundo 8
