Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano confirms he warned Nikola Milenkovic before the red card and leaves with ‘regrets’ at the 1-0 defeat to Juventus. ‘It feels as if we got a result.’
The Viola arguably had the better of the game in Turin, albeit not creating many scoring opportunities, until Milenkovic received a second yellow card for persistent fouling.
Federico Chiesa thumped the crossbar, but substitute Juan Cuadrado decided the match in stoppages from a seemingly impossible angle, surprising Pietro Terracciano at the near post.
Serie A | Juventus 1-0 Fiorentina: Cuadrado rescues Bianconeri
“It was a great game,” Italiano told DAZN.
“We could’ve brought home a point, there is great bitterness that until the red card we had done really well against a very strong side, but yet again we failed to bring home a positive result against a big club.
“The performance and attitude were excellent, I think we deserved a point for what we did in this match.”
Just before Milenkovic received his second yellow card, Italiano was caught on camera shouting to the defender a warning that he was already booked and shouldn’t go into risky tackles.
“I should’ve kept quiet, I basically reminded the referee! Considering the way we play, a late tackle or misplaced reading can happen, so I told him to be careful. He shouldn’t even have attempted that challenge, as we were 70 metres from the goal.
“They say you live and learn from your mistakes. It was an extraordinary game, we allowed Juve so little and the lads feel regret and disappointment at this result.
“We have to keep growing and improving, but the team we saw today has already progressed a great deal.
“I said before the game that we had to leave this stadium with heads held high and that would allow us to progress even more in this season. We can do that, as although we didn’t bring home points, I have to look at the value of the performance.
“It feels to me as if we got a result, we can’t look back, all we can do is grow and progress.”
Italiano was asked if he fears losing hitman Dusan Vlahovic in the January transfer window.
“It’s annoying that there is always talk about transfers, seemingly the day after the deadline, they start up again. Dusan is playing very well, he’s fully concentrated and it was not easy today against Juventus.”