Vincenzo Italiano admitted there were regrets over Fiorentina’s 3-2 win over Brugge: “Today’s regret is conceding two goals.” The match saw goals from Riccardo Sottil, who opened the scoring with a splendid strike, Andrea Belotti, restoring Fiorentina’s lead after Hans Vanacken’s temporary equalizer from the penalty spot, and M’Bala Nzola, securing the win in injury time, amidst Brugge’s Igor Thiago’s goal that levelled the score at 2-2.
Italiano reflected on the result and his team’s performance, expressing some regret over conceding two goals:
“Today’s regret is conceding two goals. I haven’t seen the penalty yet, and the second goal came from a ball where Belotti from the spot could have made it 3-1. We didn’t allow this game to end with a much wider result, but we were good to win it. Nzola impressed me; his positive attitude was evident. We need to do more on Wednesday. We tried in the end to put all our offensive weapons and we were rewarded: when you start to have this quality and physicality upfront, it becomes difficult for others.”
Continuing, the Viola coach elaborated on his team’s attitude, particularly in critical moments: “The attitude of the boys in the recent period has been tremendous. We’re ahead, and we’ll go there to play for this qualification. Even in the first half, we had chances that we could have exploited, even with Nico Gonzalez. On the 2-2 goal, we let our guard down as against Sassuolo; Quarta and Ranieri didn’t perceive the danger on that long ball, also because we were in complete control. They knew they had to work on prevention, but they lowered their guard; it’s unthinkable not to think that that long ball could put us in difficulty. If we had made it 3-1… they were at our mercy…”
Italiano reserved his conclusion for the return leg, emphasizing the need for a different mindset: “If we reason as we did in those ten seconds, it will end badly. There it’s chaotic; at home, they have an extra gear. We have to keep the intensity up from the first to the ninety-sixth minute, and beyond. However, if we go with determination and attention, we will put them in difficulty: discipline is needed with and without the ball. On that randomly fired ball forward, we should have been more attentive.”
