Fiorentina fairytale turning into a nightmare

Less than a year after completing one of Italian football's greatest comebacks, Fiorentina could find themselves returning to Serie B.

A 1-1 draw with Messina in Serie A action on Wednesday means that with just six games remaining in the season, the Florence-based club stand 18th, the third relegation spot.

Such a swift return to Serie B would represent a huge anti-climax after the twice Italian champions inspired "back from the dead" headlines by fighting their way into the top flight last June.

The club nearly disappeared completely at the end of the 2001-02 season, when it was declared bankrupt and sent down to Serie C2, Italy's fourth division.

Their top players walked out and a legal dispute over who owned the rights to the Fiorentina name forced the team to play as Florentia Viola.

But they won promotion to C1 and then received a helping hand from the Italian Football League, who allowed them to skip a division and go directly into Serie B.

The next year, Fiorentina won a play-off against Perugia to seal their return to the top division for this season.

The club's owner, Diego Della Valle, invested heavily in new players in an attempt to make Fiorentina competitive.

Former Juventus striker Fabrizio Miccoli and Hidetoshi Nakata were among the big-name players put at the disposal of coach Emiliano Mondonico.

Many Italian sports commentators predicted Della Valle's squad could secure a UEFA Cup place but the fairytale did not last long.

Mondonico was quickly replaced by Sergio Buso, but he was also unable to drag the team out of midtable mediocrity. In January, former Italy coach Dino Zoff was called in but results went from bad to worse.

Fiorentina's last win came against Reggina at the beginning of March. Since then, they have taken just three points from five matches as key players have failed to perform.

Nakata spends long periods on the bench, while teenaged striker Valeri Bojinov, who was bought for €13 million after scoring 11 goals for Lecce in the first half of the season, has suffered a string of injuries.

Impatient fans

The fans are growing impatient. On Wednesday they unfurled a banner reading "Zoff Get Lost". At the end of the game a group of several hundred shouted insults outside the dressing rooms.

Zoff's failure to show up at the post-match press conference was played down by the club's technical director Giovanni Galli.

"He didn't have anything to say or criticize the team for," Galli was quoted as saying in La Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday.

The club's vice-president, Andrea Della Valle, said Zoff's position was not under discussion.

"I don't see how changing coach would help. Above all I don't see what he has done wrong," he said. "Of course it hurts that we didn't win, but only because (the equalizer) came a few seconds before the end."

Of the club's six remaining fixtures, one is a tough away match against reigning champions Milan. They also play fellow strugglers Chievo, Brescia and Atalanta.