Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano was thrilled with his teams performance in their 2-1 victory over Milan: ‘Everyone went beyond their level’. La Viola dominated the first half of the match, creating a number of chances, before Nicolas Gonzalez eventually gave them the lead from the penalty spot. Luka Jovic added an excellent second before Milan netted a late consolation goal through Theo Hernandez.
It was an emotional occasion for Fiorentina and their supporters as the game was played on the 5th anniversary of Davide Astori’s passing, with the club paying a moving tribute to their former captain shortly before kick off. Speaking in his post-match press conference (as quoted by FirenzeViola) Italiano was clearly pleased with the way his team performed, given the occasion, and insisted it was a strong performance from everyone:
“I would emphasise the great performance from everyone. Everyone went beyond their level, few mistakes and superficiality: if you put in this level of attention to the details, you set yourself up to bring home the victory, we managed to get another three points and we gave value to the victory in Verona. I have seen many players showing growth, including Cabral who I preferred to Jovic because he scored with continuity, but then Luka takes over and scores goals, it means that we are maturing. This mentality can bring us satisfaction”.
Going back to the first leg in November, do you see pre-match levels again? Is the gloom over?
“I’m focusing on the present, on the momentum of the boys. They are growing in conditioning, look at Dodo. After so many months of inactivity it’s not easy to change country and method, to amalgamate with the new setup. We are starting to put in aspects that unlock and win games, see Ikone’s plays that he missed in other games where we may have had dominance anyway. We are also growing physically, and I absolutely love those who are decisive when they take over. If we continue like this in these three months we can say our piece. We know we’ve been on a rollercoaster at times, but we hope to break the trend.”
“You always prepare for the games with the big teams with special attention, you say they prepare themselves. The boys know that if they don’t give their best they risk making a fool of themselves. We prepared for it well, we were all focused and of high quality. We can score points and recover positions, the last two victories were fantastic. Let’s see from here to the end what we are capable of, we are also in two other competitions, but with this mentality we can play well in them.
“The public was always there at the home games, disappointing them and going out at times amidst booing and chanting was very disappointing for us. Some things hurt, but today we repaid this fantastic frame and we are proud of it.
“Sivasspor? They won their round and in 180 minutes the matches are always dangerous. Let’s think about the first one in the meantime. From tomorrow let’s concentrate on this opponent, maximum attention”.
How important was Mandragora ?
“Mandragora is growing, he is starting to have the personality that was missing and he is learning the tactical setup. He knows how to work on ball recovery, he has a left foot that can be even more dangerous and decisive, some goals are missing but I’m happy. The injury was not good, now he starts to be more concrete and lucid, it is a personal growth and within the collective”.
