Check out the latest Fiorentina team news ahead of their most important game of the season: a Conference League Final against Olympiacos in Athens.
The match kicks off at 21:00 CET on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, and fans in the UK can watch it on discovery+ even without a subscription.
Fiorentina qualified for the Conference League Final for the second year running and contrary to last season, when they lost to West Ham, most fans and pundits predict Vincenzo Italiano’s side will ultimately win the cup this time.
UK football bookmakers have set the odds in Fiorentina’s favour and have priced them at 11/10 to lift the trophy. Even though Olympiacos will play in their first European Final in nearly 100 years at the Agia Sophia Stadium, home to their domestic rivals AEK Athens, the support from the home crowd should not be underestimated.
UEFA have appointed the Portuguese Artur Soares Dias to referee the match, and the Tuscans will meet a familiar face on the pitch: their ex-striker Stevan Jovetic, scorer of eight goals in 33 appearances with Olympiacos this season.
Fiorentina coach Italiano will rely on the full team in the Final, except Gaetano Castrovilli, who was not included in their UEFA list after the 2024 January transfer window, and the injured Riccardo Sottil. Castrovilli underwent knee surgery at the beginning of the season and has recently returned to action, ending the season with one goal in six appearances.
This season’s Final is the third for Fiorentina under Italiano, but the Tuscans haven’t won a trophy since the 2000-01 Coppa Italia, which they lifted with an emerging Roberto Mancini in charge.
“We had not planned to reach these finals,” Italiano said at a press conference last week.
“We exceeded expectations last season, and in the current campaign, we were good at confirming it. We have a chance to take revenge, we know how to prepare. Perhaps, the sadness for the last two finals [Coppa Italia and Conference League last season] must push us to give our all.
“We must make as few errors as possible in Athens. You must be perfect in those games because an error will make you lose and a great move will make you win. I remember conceding a random goal against West Ham last season and then another one in a situation we should have managed differently. A few minutes earlier, we had a big chance to win it. However, we won’t play alone. We’ll meet a good team that beat Aston Villa away. They had lost 4-1 against Maccabi and scored six [in the second leg]. They have enthusiasm.”
Fiorentina will be quite rested in Athens on Wednesday night, given that they played the last Serie A match on Thursday, May 23. They beat Cagliari 3-2 and secured a Conference League placement through the domestic league. Italiano rotated a bit leaving Lucas Beltran, Arthur Melo, Nico Gonzalez and Christian Kouame initially on the bench and replacing Giacomo Bonaventura, Nikola Milenkovic and Andrea Belotti in the second half.
If Fiorentina win the trophy, they’ll qualify for the Europa League, helping Torino earn a Conference League spot in 2024-25 and becoming the 9th Italian club involved in a European competition next season.