Arthur Cabral was forced into muted celebrations when he netted for Fiorentina against his old club FC Basel in a 2-1 Europa Conference League semi-final first-leg defeat.
The Brazilian striker opened the scoring for La Viola after just 25 minutes at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Thursday night, but they were pegged back by Andy Diouf in the second half. Things then got much worse in stoppage time as Zeki Amdouni scored a 92nd-minute winner. There will be work to do in Switzerland.
Cabral played 106 times for Basel, his first club in Europe and scored an impressive 65 goals before he was signed by Fiorentina. His celebrations were understandably muted.
Cabral’s superb Europa Conference League form
The Europa Conference League is a competition that is becoming Arthur Cabral’s stomping ground.
After a tough start to life at Fiorentina, the Brazilian striker has enjoyed a prolific second half of the season. His goal against FC Basel was his seventh of the Europa Conference League campaign.
He is the top scorer in the tournament right now but he will have to add to his tally in Switzerland because Basel grabbed an equaliser with 20 minutes to play through Andy Diouf. The late goal from Amdouni means that Fiorentina are at risk of missing the chance to appear in two finals in one season.
They are already booked in to face Inter in the Coppa Italia final.
