Vincenzo Italiano praised the ‘mental strength’ of Fiorentina to fight back and beat Istanbul Basaksehir in the Conference League and assured the club will have ‘patience’ with Luka Jovic.

The Viola secured their place in the next phase of the Conference League with this 2-1 win and could still top the group, as they are now level on 10 points with Istanbul Basaksehir.

However, the Turkish team still have the superior head-to-head record, having won 3-0 in Istanbul last month.

“The lads confirmed their ability to react to negative results, they have mental strength and proved that, even if once again we gifted a goal,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.

It really was a howler to open the scoring, Pierluigi Gollini caught a long way off his line by Danijel Aleksic, but Jovic bagged a brace to turn it around.

“Being able to react and turn games around is a great skill to have. We played well, could’ve scored a lot more goals and we are happy. It wasn’t easy, especially so soon after a painful defeat.”

Fiorentina were still shaken by the weekend’s controversial and chaotic 4-3 home defeat to Inter in stoppages.

Jovic had also scored in that game and seems to be growing in confidence, even if he did miss a sitter as well this evening.

“It’s not easy for a player when you are on the sidelines for such a long time. Players need to be on the pitch consistently. We knew that we’d have to wait for him and have patience, but he is repaying us for that with goals and can do better the more he gains match fitness.”

There were some jeers from the crowd after Jovic celebrated by putting his finger to his ear.

“He is a sensitive lad, he suffered during this start to the season and applauded the fans as he left the pitch,” assured Italiano.

“I don’t think his gesture was trying to wind anyone up. He just wants to score goals and make people happy.”

The coach said before kick-off he wanted to use Antonin Barak to give the Viola more unpredictability, so how else did that change his tactical approach?

“I asked the wingers to be closer to the centre-forward, who is often surrounded by defenders, and try to push the full-backs up to create more width. Barak played three roles today, we want to get more players into the box and provide more solutions for finishing those chances.

“We have been very unlucky in Serie A this season and can do much more. We create chances, but sometimes miss incredible opportunities. We also tend to concede at every attempt from the opposition.

“We can do better and hope to recreate the incredible enthusiasm we had in Florence last season.”

Although Fiorentina have qualified for the next phase of the Conference League, only by topping the group will they go directly to the Round of 16.

Otherwise, they will enter a play-off with a team dropping down from third place in the Europa League.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector