Fiorentina director Joe Barone confirms their ambition is to qualify for Europe ahead of the Coppa Italia semi-final with Juventus, while Nikola Milenkovic will only stay ‘if he wants to’ remain.
It kicks off at 20.00 GMT, you can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
“This is obviously a very important match for us, because we care a great deal about the Coppa Italia, it’s a way of reaching Europe,” Barone told Mediaset.
“We see these two games like a World Cup Final, we earned our place in the semi-final and now we want to give it our all.”
This is the first time that Vlahovic has returned to the Stadio Artemio Franchi since pushing through his transfer to their bitter rivals Juventus in January, so he has been greeted with 10,000 whistles from the crowd.
“He is not our player, he is part of the past of Fiorentina. Each of us makes decisions, some with more clarity than others, and we want to concentrate on the present with this wonderful match.”
Fiorentina’s season had an inauspicious start, with Gennaro Gattuso hired and then leaving a couple of weeks later, so they had to buy Vincenzo Italiano out of his Spezia contract.
“The squad, the club all believe in the work of the coach, in this project and this tactical system that the club really wanted to see.
“I am very satisfied with where we are today. We have a great group of players, we created a family, we have an identity and style of football. There are some highs and lows, inevitably, but we want to reach consistency in this phase of the season if we are to aim for Europe.”
Barone was asked about the upcoming summer transfer window, with defender Milenkovic already attracting interest from Italy and abroad.
“Nikola Milenkovic is a key figure in our defence, we extended his contract and want to create some stability.
“We’ll see if there are offers, but we are always prepared to build a Fiorentina side made of players who want to remain here and play for Florence to compete for Europe.”