# 1997–98 AC Fiorentina season

Associazione Calcio Fiorentina came off second best in a competitive battle for fourth in Serie A. Under Alberto Malesani's leadership, Fiorentina played an attacking 3–5–2 formation, where goal scoring duo Gabriel Batistuta and Luís Oliveira scored an accumulated 36 goals between them. Following the end of the season, Malesani accepted an offer from Parma, thus departing the club after only one season in charge. Sensationally, Giovanni Trapattoni became his successor, remarking that Fiorentina was serious about winning the league.

## Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Francesco Toldo |
| 2 | DF | ITA | Giulio Falcone |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Michele Serena |
| 4 | MF | ITA | Giovanni Piacentini |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Pasquale Padalino |
| 6 | DF | ITA | Aldo Firicano |
| 7 | MF | SWE | Stefan Schwarz |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Emiliano Bigica |
| 9 | FW | ARG | Gabriel Batistuta |
| 10 | MF | POR | Rui Costa |
| 11 | DF | ITA | Stefano Bettarini |
| 14 | MF | ITA | Sandro Cois |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Roberto Mirri |
| 16 | DF | ITA | Simone Bartaloni |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | MF | RUS | Andrei Kanchelskis |
| 18 | FW | ITA | Francesco Flachi |
| 19 | FW | ITA | Davide Dionigi |
| 20 | MF | ITA | Domenico Morfeo |
| 21 | MF | ITA | Mirko Benin |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Valerio Fiori |
| 23 | FW | ITA | Anselmo Robbiati |
| 24 | MF | ITA | Christian Amoroso |
| 25 | FW | BRA | Luís Oliveira |
| 27 | DF | ITA | Andrea Tarozzi |
| 28 | FW | ITA | Alessandro Atzeni |
| 29 | FW | BRA | Edmundo |
| 32 | MF | ITA | Carlo Carta |
| 26 | MF | ITA | Danilo Stefani |
| 34 | FW | ITA | Francesco Tavano |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| MF | Domenico Morfeo | Atalanta B.C. | €7.70 million |
| MF | Christian Amoroso | Empoli F.C. | loan ended |
| GK | Valerio Fiori | A.C. Cesena | |
| FW | Francesco Flachi | A.S. Bari | loan ended |
| DF | Stefano Bettarini | Cagliari Calcio | |
| FW | Davide Dionigi | Reggina Calcio | |
| FW | Francesco Tavano | Nola | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Lorenzo Amoruso | Glasgow Rangers | €6.00 million |
| FW | Francesco Baiano | Derby County | |
| MF | Massimo Orlando | Atalanta B.C. | |
| DF | Vittorio Pusceddu | Empoli F.C. | |
| DF | Daniele Carnasciali | Bologna F.C. | |
| GK | Gianmatteo Mareggini | A.C. Siena | |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Edmundo | CR Vasco da Gama | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Vittorio Pusceddu | Torino F.C. | |
| FW | Francesco Flachi | Ancona | loan |
| FW | Davide Dionigi | Piacenza Calcio | |

## Competitions
### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 3 | Udinese | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 62 | 40 | +22 | 64 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 4 | Roma | 34 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 67 | 42 | +25 | 59 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 5 | Fiorentina | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 65 | 36 | +29 | 57 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 6 | Parma | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 55 | 39 | +16 | 57 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 7 | Lazio | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 53 | 30 | +23 | 56 | Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup |
* ↑ Fiorentina finished ahead of Parma on head-to-head points: FIO 1–1 PAR; PAR 1–2 FIO.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 24 July 2015. Source: Competitive matches

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | L | L | L | D | D | W | D | D | D | W | W | D | W | L | W | W | W | D | D | W | L | D | D | D | W | W | D | L | L | W | W | W |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 |

#### Matches
### Coppa Italia
#### Quarter-finals
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Serie A | Serie A | Coppa | Coppa |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Toldo | 37 | -40 | 34 | -36 | 3 | -4 |
| 2 | DF | ITA | Falcone | 30 | 0 | 25+1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Padalino | 30 | 1 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ITA | Firicano | 37 | 2 | 31 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Serena | 35 | 3 | 31 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | SWE | Schwarz | 26 | 2 | 22 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ITA | Cois | 31 | 1 | 28 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | ITA | Morfeo | 29 | 6 | 19+5 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | POR | Rui Costa | 37 | 5 | 32 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 9 | FW | ARG | Batistuta | 36 | 24 | 31 | 21 | 5 | 3 |
| 25 | FW | BRA | Oliveira | 36 | 15 | 33 | 15 | 3 | 0 |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Fiori | 4 | -1 | 0+1 | 0 | 3 | -1 |
| 27 | DF | ITA | Tarozzi | 33 | 0 | 18+10 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | RUS | Kanchelskis | 19 | 2 | 14+3 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | ITA | Robbiati | 28 | 4 | 7+18 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | ITA | Bettarini | 22 | 0 | 7+9 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 29 | FW | BRA | Edmundo | 10 | 4 | 7+2 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | ITA | Amoroso | 17 | 0 | 3+12 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Bigica | 12 | 0 | 2+7 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | ITA | Piacentini | 11 | 0 | 1+6 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Mirri | 9 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | ITA | Flachi | 7 | 1 | 0+3 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 19 | FW | ITA | Dionigi | 4 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 28 | FW | ITA | Atzeni | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 32 | MF | ITA | Carta | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ITA | Benin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | ITA | Stefani | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | ITA | Tavano | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | ITA | Agostini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | MF | ITA | Musso | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | FW | ITA | Spigoli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | ITA | Bartoloni |
* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/rose/1997/1141/

### Goalscorers

* Gabriel Batistuta 21
* Luís Oliveira 14 (1)
* Domenico Morfeo 5 (1)
* Edmundo 4
* Anselmo Robbiati 4
* Rui Costa 4