Fiorentina edged a seven-goal thriller against Debrecen in Budapest to keep up the chase of Lyon at the top of Group E.

Peter Czvitkovics opened the scoring in the second minute, but two goals from Adrian Mutu and an Alberto Gilardino strike turned the game on its head before 20 minutes had even been played.

Gergely Rudolf reduced the arrears once again in the 28th minute, but Mario Santana restored Fiorentina's two-goal cushion in the 37th minute before Adamo Coulibaly made it a nervous ending for the Italians with his side's third in the 88th minute.

Debrecen, who had yet to score in the Champions League this season, got off to a flying start with Czvitkovics breaking their duck with just over a minute on the clock.

He took advantage of some sleepy Fiorentina defending to convert Zoltan Kiss' cross to catch Fiorentina out cold.

They soon warmed up, though, and were level four minutes later.

Centre-back Dario Dainelli had stayed up following a free-kick and he found himself in the right place to retrieve a loose ball inside the penalty area which he sent back into the danger zone where Mutu hit a side-footed volley past Vukasin Poleksic from eight yards.

The Viola were gaining momentum and Gilardino put them ahead in the 10th minute.

The crossbar was still rattling after Juan Vargas' shot moments earlier when the ball came back into the Debrecen penalty area where Mutu squared the ball intelligently to Gilardino, who took his time to settle before picking his spot in the corner.

Back at the other end, Coulibaly had a chance similar to the one Mutu scored, but his sidefoot volley went wide of the far post.

Fiorentina were now on fire and they extended their lead in the 20th minute.

Gilardino did what he does best with his back to goal after winning a few fortunate rebounds and he laid the ball into the path of Mutu, who arrowed a shot in off the inside of the post from 20 yards out.

However, Debrecen hit back in the 28th minute with a fine individual goal from Rudolf, who cut in from the left and curled his shot over Sebastien Frey into the far top corner of the goal

Fiorentina had to attack again and they restored their two-goal cushion in the 37th minute thanks to Santana.

Marco Donadel sent Manuel Pasqual free down the left wing and his cross was diverted towards goal by Mutu, but Poleksic made an instinctive save.

He could not hold the ball, though, and it rebounded to Santana, who sent it back into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.

It appeared there would be even more goals in the second half when Donadel's free-kick almost slipped in as Poleksik could only save with his leg after being blinded by his wall.

The Hungarians then looked for a response as Fiorentina began packing men behind the ball to protect their lead.

Coulibaly only found the outside of the net in the 77th minute before spurning a one-on-one opportunity five minutes later as Frey stood his ground.

But Coulibaly was rewarded for his persistence with his side's third with just two minutes remaining as he raced in to send a bullet header past Frey from a right-wing free-kick.

Teams:

Debrecen Poleksic, Bodnar, Komlosi, Meszaros (Szelesi 30), Leandro, Czvitkovics, Varga, Kiss (Laczko 88), Szakaly (Dombi 57), Rudolf, Coulibaly.

Subs Not Used: Pantic, Ramos, Fodor, Bernath.

Booked: Rudolf, Bodnar.

Goals: Czvitkovics 2, Rudolf 28, Coulibaly 88.

Fiorentina Frey, Comotto, Gamberini, Dainelli (Natali 55), Pasqual, Santana (Jorgensen 68), Zanetti (Montolivo 46), Donadel, Vargas, Mutu, Gilardino.

Subs Not Used: Avramov, Jovetic, Gobbi, De Silvestri.

Booked: Donadel.

Goals: Mutu 6, Gilardino 10, Mutu 19, Santana 37.

Att: 40,000

Ref: Craig Thomson (Scotland).