Vincenzo Italiano admits Fiorentina were ‘all worried’ during their negative spell, but the ‘absolutely deserved’ win over Milan boosts confidence and paves the way for the rest of their season.
The Viola secured their second consecutive Serie A victory to bring some of their Conference League and Coppa Italia form to domestic football at last.
Nico Gonzalez converted a penalty, earned by Jonathan Ikone from Fikayo Tomori, and Luka Jovic came off the bench to score with a diving header on Dodo’s cross.
Theo Hernandez blasted a ferocious finish into the near top corner in stoppages, but it was not enough to overturn the 2-1 lead.
“Finally we have a performance with quality against a strong side like Milan who change tactics and give you few reference points. The lads showed focus, quality and we also had a 15-minute period of panic, but it was absolutely a deserved victory,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.
“We defended well on three or four consecutive corners and struggled to get out of our half. We’ve lost games in those situations before, for example with Bologna. This time we stayed concentrated and showed we can defend too.”
Fiorentina have been a team who impressed in the cup competitions, but struggled in Serie A, though finally seem to be bringing that to this tournament too.
“We all wanted to be in the Conference League, overcoming a play-off and fighting hard through every round. Everyone is involved. It’s true that we don’t have the time to train between games the way we did last season, but everyone feels they can participate and the strikers are now starting to score goals.
“If this is the mentality, then we can do well in all three tournaments. The only problem is the lack of days to prepare for games in training, but once we got used to that, we did better.”
Fiorentina have scored 13 goals in their last five competitive matches, so the early season issue of not taking their chances is also improving.
“We often lacked the determination, precision and focus in our finishing, but players like Ikone are realising that if they can’t get a shot away, they ought to go for the pass and help their teammates.
“There was a period when we were all worried, as the strikers couldn’t seem to get the ball into the net, but that is in the past now.”
Italiano gave Dodo a big hug after the assist for Jovic’s diving header, even lifting the former Shakhtar Donetsk full-back off the ground.
“Dodo arrived with us after nine months of not playing, he had to train with a local side near his home. He was nowhere near fully fit, he then picked up a calf injury and was losing his confidence. We waited for him and now he is starting to provide the performances he is capable of.”
It was an emotional night at the Stadio Franchi, the fifth anniversary of the death of captain Davide Astori.
He was honoured before kick-off and again at the 13th minute, when the entire crowd and both teams stopped play to give a standing ovation to DA13.
“It was a wonderful atmosphere. The fans never abandoned us, even when we let them down with some home results, but we repaid the 40,000 crowd with a superlative performance and I hope it can push us forward for the remainder of this season.”