Pre-match Atalanta was coached by Tullio Gritti as Gian Piero Gasperini was forced to watch from the stands due to his red card in the quarterfinal against AC Milan. Gasp's top lieutenant didn't do anything surprising with his lineup. Vincenzo Italiano, on the other hand, left just Luca Ranieri in his XI from the win at Salernitana on Sunday.

First half It took just 8 minutes for the hosts to pull the tie level. In fairness, it was pretty lucky, as Rolando Mandragora miscontrolled in midfield and it bounced perfectly for Teun Koopmeiners to run through and finish, but teams do make their own luck and Fiorentina, well, didn't.

It looked like la Dea had fully taken control 5 minutes later after another turnover in the middle allowed Gianluca Scamacca half a yard to score an absolute rocket, but VAR rapidly realized that Koopmeiners had stepped pretty heavily on Lucas Beltran in the buildup and ruled it out. Hell of a hit, though.

Fiorentina didn't take advantage of the reprieve, creating very little and exerting minimal control on the game. Atalanta, on the other hand, had a double handful of chances, mostly off turnovers in the middle, with Koopmeiners, Charles de Ketelaere, and Matteo Ruggeri all having really good opportunities to double the lead. The Viola were unable to cope with their hosts' physicality (11 first half fouls called and several uncalled) and were lucky to get into the break even on aggregate.

Second half Halftime didn't bring any relief to the Viola as Atalanta resumed its dominant position immediately, with Ruggeri missing a free header from 5 yards out about 3 minutes after the restart. Not long after, Nikola Milenkovic earned an indisputable red card for taking out Scamacca as the last man. It wasn't great but probably saved a goal, and it was really on the midfield for not tracking back.

As you'd expect, the Bergamaschi pinned Fiorentina back and pinged the ball around the edge of the box, looking for an opening, but the best opportunity fell for Marten De Roon, whose shot whimpered wide. It was at the other end that the goal came, much to everyone's astonishment. The hardworking Christian Kouame won a free kick that Cristiano Biraghi bent into the back post, where substitute Lucas Martinez Quarta, of course, headed it home to send the traveling support into raptures.

That scoreline didn't last long, though, as Ruggeri's cross found de Ketelaere at the back post and the Belgian knocked it down for Scamacca, whose gloriously acrobatic finish drew the scores level again. Not much you can do about those.

Atalanta, not surprisingly, laid siege to the Viola goal, but the Tuscan resistance was stout and pretty solid, aside from de Ketelaere lashing one over on the break. It was tense as hell and even ended with one of the Viola assistants getting sent off. It was deep into stoppage time that Fiorentina sent too many forward for Michael Kayode's long throw, lost the ball and allowed Atalanta to break the other way. While Ademola Lookman's finish was initially flagged offside, VAR decided it was fine, and that was that.

Mario Pasalic added the insurance right at the end but who cares? It was already over.

Full time Goals: Koopmeiners 8', Scamacca 75' (ass. de Ketelaere), Lookman 90'+4 (ass. Scamacca), Pasalic 90'+8 (ass. Lookman); Martinez Quarta 68' (ass. Biraghi)

Cards: Kolasinac 56', Scamacca 80'; Mandragora 43', Milenkovic red card 53', Dodo 69'

Stats What's next One time, I tried to climb over a fence as a kid and it broke under me. As I slipped, my hand hit a metal post and got slashed deep enough to see the bone. It didn't hurt. Honestly, it didn't. I remember looking down at this hamburger meat where my palm was supposed to be and feeling nothing. That's about how I feel now. Maybe it's the shock. Maybe it's just a reversion to our natural state as Fiorentina fans. But I can feel that void returning to occupy the space which should be my body.

I guess the Viola can pick themselves up and get ready to take on Sassuolo on Sunday, and then Club Brugge in the Conference League semifinal on Thursday. Those things are going to happen. And hey, this club's still in the running for a major trophy in that very same Conference League. Just need to win a two-legged tie against the Belgians and then it's 90 minutes and anything can happen.

But it's hard to shake the feeling that no, it probably won't happen. Not this year. Not this team. Not this lifetime.