Vincenzo Italiano explains how Fiorentina caused Atalanta so many problems in the Coppa Italia semi-final, but Marco Carnesecchi made ‘incredible saves.’
The Viola largely dominated the match, but with poor finishing and some heroic goalkeeping from Carnesecchi, the only difference between them was the long-range Rolando Mandragora screamer.
“Carnesecchi made two incredible saves on Nico Gonzalez, he’s a great goalkeeper, and clearly at this level you are up against champions,” Italiano told Mediaset.
“Our first half was excellent, we never allowed Atalanta to get a foothold in the game, then Scamacca came on and held the ball up better. The first round is in our favour, we needed a victory after a difficult period, the team responded well and we are confident going into the second match.”
This is a minimal lead to take into the second leg in Bergamo on April 24, but still an advantage in Fiorentina’s third consecutive Coppa Italia semi-final.
“Even if we had scored another goal, I remain convinced the second leg would be very tough, as Atalanta can pin you back in your own half. We take the victory and know we need an extraordinary match, especially as there is a Final up for grabs.”
Fiorentina’s tactics made Atalanta work harder than perhaps they have done for many months, so it is something that Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool could do with watching ahead of the Europa League quarter-final.
“When we play three against three upfront, the lads have the freedom to roam and read the situations as they develop. They did it very well today, not allowing Atalanta to win the duels, as when we lose those, then Atalanta swarm all over us,” explained Italiano.
“We wanted to stretch them out and make them work harder, as otherwise Lookman and Koopmeiners can run at you and cause problems. When the strikers start the press, that inspires all the others too. We knew we had to be aggressive and win the ball back quickly.”
Unfortunately, there is a recurring problem at Fiorentina, which is that they create so many scoring opportunities and finish only a fraction of them.
“There is so much at stake, we would’ve been happy with any win and the 1-0 is satisfactory.”
Fiorentina had won only one of the last six Serie A games and were coming off a 2-1 home defeat to Fiorentina.