Both sides came into the fixture knowing that the winner would most likely finish in second place of the Conference League league phase, with Vitoria in contention to do so despite this being their debut in the main draw of the competition.
The Portuguese side got off to a positive start and almost opened the scoring inside six minutes through a spectacular strike, but Gustavo’s bicycle kick ultimately hit the side netting.
The first half was dominated by Rui Borges’ men as they created an abundance of chances. Nuno Santos flashed a shot inches wide from the edge of the box, before skying an effort over the bar when following up on the rebound from Kaio Cesar’s shot from distance.
The home fans will likely have been anxious as they saw their team waste those opportunities, but the tension was eased just after the half-hour mark.
Kaio Cesar drove into the Fiorentina box, and his low cross to the far post was tapped in by Gustavo to open the scoring.
Raffaele Palladino would have been disappointed with his side’s first half performance, with the Viola failing to hit the target, and the visitors struggled in the opening moments of the second period. The home side were playing with significantly more intensity and their high press almost brought about a second goal within minutes of the restart, but Tiago Silva sent a shot flying wide of the far post from outside of the box.
In an attempt to shake things up, Palladino made four changes less than 15 minutes into the second half, and one of those introduced, Moise Kean, had the first effort on target for the Viola after being picked out by Lucas Beltran. Bruno Varela, though, came out off his line to smother the striker.
Still, the home side continued to press for a second goal, and looked likelier to net, as Gustavo saw a stinging effort from distance palmed away by Filippo Terracciano.
But just as it looked like the Brazilian forward’s solitary goal was going to be enough for the Portuguese side to pip their opponents into second-place, Rolando Mandragora popped up in the 87th minute to level the scoreline for Fiorentina and secure a point apiece.
The result doesn’t affect qualification for either side as they both finish in the top eight to progress into the last 16.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Gustavo (Vitoria Guimaraes)