In other times, the news that nearly one thousand fans waited late Sunday evening to greet Fiorentina on their return at Florence's Peretola Airport after their 3-2 win at Juventus would be unimpressive at least, deserving of an advice to get a life at most.

But this time it was different, and Everton may be well advised to prepare thoroughly for their upcoming UEFA Cup clash in Florence, as morale is sky high in the Viola camp following a key win away from home on a day when coach Cesare Prandelli had left Christian Vieri at home and was without the mercurial and controversial Adrian Mutu, who will miss both UEFA Cup legs through injury.

Juventus versus Fiorentina is in the past now, both sides moving on to more urgent appointments, but Fiorentina's win meant a lot because they had not won at Juventus for 20 years.

They had recorded exactly zero wins over top four sides in the last couple of years, a damning and this time meaningful statistic which more than any other explains the amount of work Prandelli, one of the most respected coaches and men in Italian soccer, still has to do with his young squad.

Fiorentina sit now in fourth place in Serie A, one point behind Juventus, and the struggle for the last two Champions League places is going to tickle the curiosity of fans much more than the phony title race which Inter can only lose.

Their six-point lead over Roma, who can blow hot and cold with more unpredictability than Roberto Mancini's struggling and injury-hit side, tells a blatant lie: when at full strength Inter, who keep getting the short end of the stick in the media because of an increasing hostility towards their coach, are untouchable by Roma or any other side, as they proved earlier this season when they brushed aside the Giallorossi 4-1 in Rome.

The scudetto is Inter's to lose, and this should shift attention to the exciting race for fourth place, made even fiercer by Milan's exit from the Champions League at the hands of Arsenal.

Fiorentina appear well equipped now, having recovered confidence and a spring in their step with the win at Juventus.

It's been an emotional season for them in more than one way. First of all, they turned up at the starting line with no points deduction, unlike last year when they were handicapped, in the shape of a 15-point penalty, by the effect of the Moggiopoli scandal and still gained a total of points, 58, that would have put them in the Champions League under regular circumstances.

The collective Viola feeling of having been wronged during the investigation and trial, which is challenged by insiders who still believe their conscience is all but crystal clear, provided a potent fuel for last season's potent displays.

Their 21 Serie A wins were better than all but two sides in the league - and an even better motivating factor this time, with a squad largely made up by young players - the average age of the XI who started against Juventus was 25.9, and that despite 32-year old Martin Jorgensen and 29-year old Tomas Ujfalusi being in the side.

In addition, Prandelli, 50, had to endure a personal tragedy when his wife Manuela, whom he'd known since they were at school, died in late November having lost a long battle against a terrible disease which had prompted her husband to quit Roma only a few weeks after accepting a contract with them in the summer of 2004. Franco Baldini, Fabio Capello's number two, was then Roma's general manager.

Prandelli only missed the away match to Reggina, though, finding a refuge from his grief in the day-by-day grind of managing Fiorentina, but the side were going through an awful spell which saw them take one point from 15 between mid-November and mid-December, before the always charitable Cagliari visited the Artemio Franchi on December 23 and, in keeping with the Christmas spirit, let in five goals.

At that time, the fluency and flow of Fiorentina's play had been reduced to a tiny trickle. Mutu, one of the best performers in Serie A in the first couple of months, had hit on the pause button one time too many and had started titillating an increasing number of boo-boys in the tough Fiorentina crowd - not to mention opposing fans, who have always blasted him for his tendency towards theatrics in the penalty area.

Mutu responded by scoring six goals in the four-game winning streak which lifted Fiorentina once again amongst the Champions League places in January.

The winter transfer window brought in a couple of interesting reinforcements, notably forwards Daniele Cacia and Ndiaye Papa Waigo, the spindly Senegalese forward who sometimes seems to be about to fall over but has impressed - and scored twice - in his first three appearances for the Viola after being marginalised at Genoa in the first part of the season.

Papa Waigo looked a good fit as a right sided midfielder-cum-forward in a Prandelli-preferred 4-3-3 that requires great movement by the wide players in tracking back and offering opponents a five-man front in midfield.

Papa Waigo is challenging Argentinian Mario Alberto Santana for a starting place, while Mutu regularly plays on the opposite side but will soon have to make way for Osvaldo, a 22-year old Italian-Argentinian who has played sparingly in his first Serie A season but scored three times, including the winner at Juventus last Sunday.

Osvaldo celebrated by doing the machine-gun gesture favoured by his compatriot, idol and Fiorentina icon Gabriel Batistuta (he was sent off for taking off his shirt, too).

The central striker is Giampaolo Pazzini, whose surname and frenetic style lends themselves to the nickname Pazzo (Daft) which has been with him for a couple of years.

Pazzini, who scored a hat-trick for Italy's Under 21s against England in Wembley's inaugural match last March, has six goals in the league so far but has not managed to dodge criticism, which was always bound to come his way as he tries to replace the free-scoring Luca Toni while being a rather different player.

Fiorentina's strength is utilising the width of the pitch to bring wide men into play or exploit their ability to drift inside and leave room for the midfielders and defender to come forward.

Massimo Gobbi, not a defender by trade but used by Prandelli on the left flank against Juventus as an additional insurance policy against Zebina and Camoranesi, scored a brilliant goal on Sunday and proved the manager has been integrating every member of his squad well.

Play usually flows from central midfield, where Fabio Liverani, not the fleetest-footed of players but blessed with an old fashioned regista vision, plays something of a Pirlo role bringing his team-mates into action.

Fiorentina take on a much different look when hard-running but unimaginative Marco Donadel - as he did on Sunday - replaces Liverani in the middle, so another crucial member of the midfield trio is Riccardo Montolivo, who at 23 is probably not progressing as much as Fiorentina expected from him.

Other factors have to be taken into consideration, though, not least that no one still knows whether he's going to be yet another Pirlo or an attacking midfielder.

In the meantime, Swiss-born Serbian Zdravko Kuzmanovic has been coming on in leaps and bounds this season, yet another example of the blessing in disguise that Fiorentina's decision to opt for a wise spending was; the disguise being the growing pains and their inability, until last Sunday, to win against a top-four side.

Goalkeeper Sebastian Frey, who established himself in Parma and Florence after failing to impress in two seasons at Inter, challenged his organisation's spending philosophy this season by basically asking for one or two big-name signings to help speed the process that in the eyes of owner Diego Della Valle - one of Italy's wealthiest entrepreneurs with his quality shoe factories - would bring a scudetto to Fiorentina, who have two Serie A titles, in 1956 and in 1969, within the next five years or so.

It may not be Alan Hansen territory yet, but Frey voiced a suspicion many share, that winning with kids will be hard as long as Inter, Roma and Milan, not to mention the resurgent Juventus, apply a less restrained spending policy.

One thing Fiorentina have going for them, though, is the spirit and enthusiasm youth brings along: they were the only Italian side who respected the UEFA Cup and have made it one of their season's goals.

This flies in the face of the typically Italian cynicism of many who think dedicating too much attention to the competition leaves sides too stretched in Serie A.

Stretched was indeed the operative word last Sunday. Only, it was not Fiorentina's squad being pulled to the boundaries, but Juventus when the Viola were in full attacking flow.

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