Fiorentina plunged further into crisis on Saturday with a 3-1 defeat at promoted Sassuolo which left them bottom of Serie A without a single win this season.
Once the home of players like Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa and sixth-placed finishers last season, Fiorentina have collected just six points from 14 matches.
And even with the backing of some 4 000 travelling fans the "Viola" were dreadful in Reggio Emilia, collapsing to an eighth league loss of the league campaign after going ahead through Rolando Mandragora's ninth-minute penalty.
Cristian Volpato levelled for Sassuolo with a deflected strike five minutes later. Tarik Muharemovic gave the hosts a deserved lead on the stroke of halftime when he was given the freedom of the Fiorentina penalty area to head home his first Serie A goal.
Three goals and three points for Sassuolo! ⚫️🟢#SassuoloFiorentina pic.twitter.com/c2JdIFjiLp
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) December 6, 2025
From that point Fiorentina showed nothing to suggest a comeback and Ismael Kone sealed the points for Sassuolo in the 65th minute, shortly after Volpato had a screamer ruled out for a soft looking foul on Fabiano Parisi.
That decision incensed eight-placed Sassuolo's coach Fabio Grosso who was subsequently sent off for dissent.
Grosso's counterpart Paolo Vanoli, who took charge of Fiorentina a month ago, screamed on the sidelines to no avail as his team stayed six points from safety with just over a third of the season done.
Inter Milan can take a provisional two-point lead of Italy's top flight later on Saturday with a win over high-flying Como, while Atalanta are at Verona who are level on six points with Fiorentina.
Atalanta coach Raffaele Palladino has had good start to life in Bergamo, a job he took last month after quitting Fiorentina in the summer.