In the 17th round of Serie A played yesterday, Fiorentina took on Salernitana at home. Bonaventura scored an instep shot from outside the first half to give the Purple Lily the lead. But at half-time, Purple Lily's fans were a little frustrated.
It was wonderful to go into the second half with a lead, but towards the end of the first half, 21-year-old Vlahović was hit to the knee by his opponent. In the ensuing time, the Serbian center forward was unable to accelerate and the Fiorentina fans began to worry.
This season in Serie A, Fiorentina have won 10 and lost 7, temporarily ranking 5th, maintaining the competition for a Place in the Champions League. The player who swept the team away from the decline of the previous seasons was Vlahović.
He joined partisans in Belgrade at the age of 14; signed his first professional contract at the age of 15; made his debut in the Serbian Premier League at the age of 16, setting a new record for guerrilla history; and then at the age of 16, he made his debut in the Belgrade derby, setting a new record for the youngest appearance in the "Eternal Derby".
This is the story of Vlahović before he came to Italy.
During his three seasons in Serbia, Vlahović scored a total of 1 league goal and 2 cup goals. Immediately afterwards the offer from Florence came.
Due to age restrictions, Vlahović, born in 2000, could not officially join Fiorentina until after his 18th birthday, and his appearance was not until after July 1, 2018.
None of this disinterested Florence, and they spotted the lad. In order to win him, Fiorentina would rather give 40% of the transfer fee to the Belgrade guerrillas in Vlahović's future transfers.
On 25 September 2018, Vlahović made his debut against Inter Milan, making a total of 10 Serie A appearances this season, failing to score goals.
His first goal left Fiorentina waiting for almost a year until August 2019, when he played in the Coppa Italia against Monza. In the 2019-20 season, Vlahovic's chances of playing in the league also began to improve significantly, playing 30 times throughout the season and scoring 6 goals.
Six goals in 30 league games, such a statistic is certainly not efficient for forwards. Doubts also began to appear, was It worth it for Florence to pay for him? But these people forget that Vlahovich has just turned 20.
At the beginning of the 2020-21 season, Vlahovic scored only one goal in the first 11 rounds of the league. During this period, the manager made adjustments and Fiorentina's former meritorious manager Prandelli returned.
Vlahovic also under his command ushered in a complete outbreak, successively scoring the goals of Juve, Lazio, Atalanta and other teams, and scoring the first hat-trick against Benevento. Rivrahovic scored a total of 21 goals throughout the season, earning the Serie A Silver Boot. He had just turned 21.
With such results, Vlahović became a target for Atletico in 2021, but Fiorentina remained unchanged and refused all the offers from buyers.
This season the Fiorentina manager has been replaced by Italiano and Vlahović has become even more terrifying. Not only did he appear in front of the small penalty area to complete the goal kick, but he also developed a new skill. Against Cagliari, Vlahović even scored a free-kick. He is also a penalty shooter for Fiorentina, hitting all five of his home penalties this season.
Back to yesterday's game, Vlahovic continued to play in the second half, which also gave Fiorentina fans a sigh of relief. The 21-year-old began his performance again, drawing world waves from the edge of the penalty area in the second half and then scoring goals in front of goal.
It was his third second of the season, with a hat-trick against Spezia. He has scored 15 goals after 17 rounds in Serie A, continuing to lead the top scorers list and becoming the youngest player to score 15 goals in the first 17 rounds of Serie A in the past 63 seasons.
The highlight performance of two consecutive seasons has also been favored by the Serbian national team. Vlahović made his national team debut last year and scored his first goal against Russia. This year he played 10 games for Serbia, scoring 6 goals. The Serbian national team also successfully won the 2022 World Cup.
In this era of scarcity of centre-forwards, Serbia has two centre-forwards, Mitrovic and Vlahović, and Stojkovic is probably laughing in his dreams.