Fiorentina win 8th straight Serie A match to keep up surprise title pace

Fiorentina moved three points behind Serie A leaders Atalanta with Sunday's 1-0 win over Cagliari in their first league match since midfielder Edoardo Bove's sudden collapse last weekend.

Danilo Cataldi fired in the only goal of the game in the 24th minute to give Fiorentina their eighth straight win in Italy's top flight, not counting their interrupted match with Inter Milan, which was goalless when Bove fell.

Raffaele Palladino's side sit fourth, level on 31 points with third-placed Inter and a point behind Napoli, who can retake their league lead from Atalanta with a win over Lazio in the day's late fixture.

Fiorentina, who hadn't won eight in a row in Serie A since April 1960, and Inter both have a game in hand on their title rivals with their abandoned fixture yet to be rescheduled.

Promising midfielder Bove, 22, has been in Florence's Careggi hospital for a week as he undergoes tests, with reports in Italian media saying that his career in Italy is effectively over.

Before kick-off, Fiorentina captain Luca Ranieri expressed anger at reports that Bove was set to have a defibrillator fitted, which would force him to look for a club abroad due to stringent health regulations in Italian sport.

Christian Eriksen had to leave Inter Milan in 2021 in the wake of his cardiac arrest and collapse while playing for Denmark at that year's European Championship. 

Eriksen was banned from playing in Italian football after having an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD, fitted but now plays for Manchester United and still represents his country.

"I ask for a bit of respect for both him and for his privacy because a series of untrue things have been written and said about him," said Ranieri.

Palladino also insisted that he and his players were "waiting to welcome him back on the pitch soon."

Cataldi dedicated his superb opener to his good friend and fellow Roman Bove, with the pair on loan at Fiorentina from capital city clubs Lazio and Roma.

The 30-year-old ran to a pitchside camera to make the number four - Bove's shirt number - and a heart with his fingers after rifling Lucas Beltran's first-time strike into the top corner.

Cataldi's goal left spirited Cagliari 15th, three points above Como, who sit just inside the relegation zone and are at bottom team Venezia later on Sunday.

Verona are one point and place above Como and host mid-table Empoli, who knocked Fiorentina out of the Italian Cup on Wednesday.