Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano insists the release clause in his contract ‘changes very little’ with regards to his future, as he prepares to make life difficult for leaders Milan.
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT).
This could be a decisive result in the Scudetto race, as the Rossoneri are now the Serie A leaders with a two-point advantage over Inter, while the Viola need to shake off their surprise 4-0 home defeat to Udinese in order to grab a place in Europe.
“We’ve become accustomed this season to shelving whatever performance we put in and starting from scratch on the next one, so that applies to the Udinese game too,” said Italiano in his press conference.
“It will be a battle against the top team and we’ll do everything we can to get out of there with a positive result. Milan have everything it takes to go all the way, but we’ve already seen this season that every game is difficult.
“Stefano Pioli continued the work from last season, a consolidated style of play with many different goalscorers. You can tell the quality of a squad when they don’t depend on just one player and we want to do the same.”
Much has been said about Italiano’s future over the last couple of weeks, as it seems he has a release clause in his contract and Napoli among others are interested in his services.
“My contract has been the same since the first day, having a clause or not changes very little. I am the Fiorentina coach, I have a contract and that certifies my present and future. Fiorentina have been in the top places from the start and has what it takes to stay there. We could’ve done without our recent setbacks, there has been frustration, but we must do more if we want to remain where I believe we deserve to be.
“When I read certain things in the papers, it shows a lack of respect for what we’ve done so far. I spoke to director Joe Barone and President Rocco Commisso. We all here have a dream, which is to finish the league in our current spot.
“We cannot lose faith in these final four games, even if we have some injury problems.”
#Italiano: ‘Contratto con la Fiorentina che certifica presente e futuro. Sulla clausola, la crisi e il Milan…’ #MilanFiorentina https://t.co/XTi0dKlYhd pic.twitter.com/CkwCeNlKDa
— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) April 30, 2022