Fiorentina are the only Serie A side yet to find the net in the first half this season, while Inter are the top flight's highest scorers in the opening 45 minutes, with seven. Mazzarri's men are also one of only two teams (Juventus the other) not to have let in a goal during the second period.

Vincenzo Montella's charges are yet to concede on home soil in 2014/15: the Viola's defence remained unbreached at the Stadio Franchi against Genoa (0-0), Guingamp (3-0) and Sassuolo (0-0). The last man to score against them in Florence is now wearing the Viola shirt himself: Jasmin Kurtic struck for Torino in a 2-2 draw on 18 May.

Previous match-ups between Vincenzo Montella and Walter Mazzarri have yielded 18 goals in six games (eight for Montella's sides, 10 for Mazzarri's). The current Viola boss has won one while the Nerazzurri manager has come out on top three times (always by a 2-1 scoreline) and there have been two draws.

As a coach, Walter Mazzarri has faced Fiorentina 22 times in competitive fixtures with a record of W6, D9, L7. His last reverse at the hands of the Viola dates back to 13 March 2010, Napoli 1-3 Fiorentina in Serie A.

Vincenzo Montella has now pitted his wits against Inter eight times since going into coaching, winning two, drawing two and losing four. The Nerazzurri have scored in every game, notching 12 goals in total. As a player, Montella played against Inter 19 times (17 in Serie A, two in the Coppa Italia), ending up on the winning side four times, losing nine times and drawing on six occasions. He put 12 goals past Inter over the course of his career, making them his favourite target together with Fiorentina, the club he now coaches.

Mauro Icardi has bagged seven goals in competitive matches this season, making him the second highest goalscorer in Italy behind Udinese's Di Natale (eight).

27.3% of Inter's 11 goals in Serie A 2014/15 have come from substitutes: Guarin against Sassuolo, then Osvaldo and Hernanes against Atalanta.

FLORENCE – Inter lost 3-0 in Florence tonight after Babacar, Cuadrado and Tomovic all scored for the hosts. The Nerazzurri started well but found themselves behind in the 7th minute after Babacar lashed in a rasping effort from well outside the box.

With the crowd right behind them, Fiorentina continued to push forward. Barely sixty seconds later Cuadrado unleashed a dangerous shot towards the Inter goal, but Handanovic was equal to the effort.

The Nerazzurri tried to react, especially through Mauro Icardi. The Argentine came close with a fizzing shot on the turn.

Fiorentina’s attacks were unabated, however, and they soon doubled their lead through another long-range stunner. This time it was Cuadrado who cut in from the left, breezing past Medel to buy himself a yard of space. His blistering shot crashed off the post and into Handanovic’s net to make it 2-0 after just 19 minutes.

Inter tried to regroup and find a way back into the game via the flanks. D’Ambrosio caused confusion in the Fiorentina box, before coming close to clawing a goal back for his side in the 38th minute. Neto was equal to his shot, however.

Fiorentina finished the half as strongly as they’d started it, with Babacar once again looking dangerous. Handanovic was alert and the first half ended 2-0 in favour of the Viola.

Fiorentina were back on the front foot as soon as the second half kicked off, the Babacar/Cuadrado partnership once again looking threatening. On 58 minutes, the Senegalese forward shook off his marker and shot just wide from the edge of the area.

He was again involved in the 63rd minute, exchanging passes with Cuadrado to set the Colombian clean through on Handanovic, but the Inter goalkeeper did excellently to save his powerful effort.

The Nerazzurri came back at the hosts with Medel, but his shot was well wide and posed no problems for Neto. Palacio had a golden opportunity to get his side back in the game on 75 minutes, but his left-footed effort was not quite good enough to breach the Viola goal.

It would prove to be a costly miss, as Fiorentina made it 3-0 just one minute later. Tomovic showed great poise to find a way through the Inter defence and find space to get an unstoppable shot away.

Inter had one last chance before the final whistle, as D’Ambrosio tried a powerful shot from inside the area, but Neto was once again too good. The Nerazzurri return home empty-handed after a disappointing result in Florence.

FIORENTINA 3-0 INTER

Scorers: Babacar 7, Cuadrado 19, Tomovic 76.

Fiorentina: 1 Neto; 40 Tomovic, 2 Rodriguez, 15 Savic, 28 Alonso; 10 Aquilani, 7 Pizarro, 16 Kurtic; 14 Mati Fernandez (Vargas 77); 11 Cuadrado (Brillante 86), 30 Babacar (Bernardeschi 65).
Subs not used: 12 Tatarusanu, 21 Lupatelli, 5 Badelj, 19 Basanta, 20 Borja Valero, 23 Pasqual, 32 Lazzari, 55 Hegazi, 72 Ilicic.
Coach: Vincenzo Montella.

Inter: 1 Handanovic; 23 Ranocchia (Hernanes 59), 15 Vidic, 5 Juan Jesus; 33 D'Ambrosio, 90 M'Vila, 18 Medel, 10 Kovacic, 22 Dodò (Obi 67); 7 Osvaldo (Palacio 74), 9 Icardi.
Subs not used: 30 Carrizo, 46 Berni, 6 Andreolli, 17 Kuzmanovic, 25 Mbaye, 44 Krhin.
Coach: Walter Mazzarri.

Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (Terni).

Booked: Ranocchia 20, D’Ambrosio 52, Kurtic 53, Osvaldo 70, Tomovic 76.

Added time: 0+3 minutes.

starting lineups

substitutes