After six consecutive victories, Raffaele Palladino’s Fiorentina seeks their seventh win against Como on Sunday. The Viola are second in the league table, just one point behind Napoli following a complicated start. However, the coach, as he stated to Sport Mediaset, never doubted his players:
“Despite the loss against Atalanta, I realized I had a strong team that was growing. From there on, it’s been a journey of improvement: Bergamo was the turning point.”
The turnaround also came for Moise Kean, who scored his first Serie A hat-trick in the last match against Verona and is now the second-highest scorer behind Retegui with eight goals. The secret? Palladino explains:
“I touched on the keys of love and gave confidence to a young man who needed to regain self-esteem. He’s been very good because he put himself at the disposal of the group with great humility, he’s done great work on himself. He has great room for improvement, not even he knows how much.”
Como-Fiorentina will be a match where the youngest coaches in the league face off: Fabregas (37 years old) against Palladino (40). The Viola coach has been studying his colleague:
“I’ve had the opportunity to study him these days, he’s an excellent coach. I like him as a person too, how he presents himself to the press and his players. He’s a Spanish coach, his teams play very good football, offensive football, so he puts you in difficulty. Sunday will be a beautiful challenge.”
The strength of Fiorentina in these first months has been the group. The right chemistry has been created to aim as high as possible:
“A kind of magic has been created within the locker room, a very solid group. It wasn’t easy, the boys have been good, both the newcomers and the old ones in welcoming everyone. This chemistry, this magic has been created between us that we must continue to ride at this moment. Promise for this year? I’d be happy to get as high as possible.”
Palladino began his coaching career in Serie A thanks to Adriano Galliani, who in 2022 entrusted him with Monza after the dismissal of Giovanni Stroppa, who had led the team to promotion:
“I was very happy because being chosen by a great president like Berlusconi and Dr. Galliani is a source of great satisfaction. That’s when I realized I had to give it my all to fulfill the dream I had had within me for years. They gave me a great opportunity and I will thank them for life.”
