07.05.2024 19.29 by Andrea Giannattasio
Source: from our correspondent in Brugge (Belgium)
Eve day in home Florentine: tomorrow (at 6.45 pm) the Viola are expected to play in the second leg of the semi-final Conference League and the current opponent is the Belgians Club Bruggeleading team of Jupiler League that the Viola beat a week ago 3-2 in the first leg match at Franchi. From the stadium press room Jan Breydelas per UEFA protocol, took the floor the technician Vincenzo Italiano. Here are his statements:
On what not to repeat from the semi-final against Atalanta: “We still have to score “points”, that is, take advantage of the one-goal advantage we have but try not to let ourselves be influenced. We have to play good football by making Brugge difficult, as we did in the first leg, avoiding lapses in attention and mistakes. The advantage is we hold on to him but we must not let ourselves be influenced by everything and be concrete.”
On how he prepared the matcha: “The episodes in matches like this are decisive. We must bring all the episodes to our side, without giving advantages to our opponents. Everything we know about our opponent and what we have shown we will have to present again without mistakes and drops in tension”.
On the value of tomorrow’s match in the Viola season: “The judgment of the year in my opinion is positive. We have done something extraordinary in this competition. We have performed splendidly in recent years in Europe and we want to add another piece.”
On which Brugge will face Fiorentina: “They have to recover from a one-goal deficit… we know that a difficult climate awaits us. If we hadn’t had those minutes of confusion in Florence, the match would have ended differently. That’s why I say that we know what we’re up against. We have to let us be ready.”
On Nzola’s moment: “He has given us good feelings in this last period: against Brugge he was rewarded with the goal but also in Verona he had an excellent match. Today I went back to talk to him about the opportunity he had in the second half… If he’s well he can be very useful to us, given his size. On a mental level he can really give us a lot.”
On the exclusion of Castrovilli from the UEFA list: “I should remember why certain choices were made then… I can certainly only say kind words for Gaetano who, when he is at 100%, will be able to go back to being the player we all know. I’m really sorry about Sottil’s injury: It’s been a really tough year. We’ll find our solutions for this final rush too.”
On the thought of the final: “Individual goals have never interested me. The important thing is to be able to fulfill yet another dream that everyone wants and we have to do it collectively. When I arrived in Florence our dream was to go to Europe and we have already succeeded in the first year. We have played 30 games in this competition since 2022… they have been years in which we have increased our skills. I have given my best in all the games in recent years and the journey in recent years has been positive for us emotions that we made the fans experience.”
If Brugge has weaknesses: “Hayen’s team will try to put pressure on us with a few more men in our half of the pitch and we will have to be good at being cynical, without a drop in tension.”
