Vincenzo Italiano is proud of Fiorentina for their eighth consecutive Conference League victory, but it is inevitably overshadowed by the ‘shameful’ incident when Alessandro Bianco’s nose was broken by a Sivasspor fan.
The Viola had a 1-0 first leg lead from the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which was wiped out by a ferocious long-range stunner from Erdogan Yesilyurt.
However, Arthur Cabral, Nikola Milenkovic, a comical Goutas own goal and Gaetano Castrovilli completed the comeback for their eighth consecutive Conference League victory.
There was tension in the final stages, especially with Hakan Arslan sent off for trying to kick Rolando Mandragora in the face.
It got even worse after the closing whistle, because a Sivasspor supporter ran onto the pitch and punched defender Bianco before he was taken away by stewards.
“Bianco being punched is just shameful, he didn’t even see the guy coming and now he has a broken nose,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.
“It seemed like a celebration, the crowd was pushing their team forward and this gesture ruins everything, despite it being a victory for us.
“It’s terrible that a 20-year-old is the victim of such violence on what was a marvellous evening and is a blemish on what for the most part seemed to be a very nice crowd.”
There were only circa 20-30 Fiorentina fans present in the stadium, but in order to get a packed house, Sivasspor gave away tickets practically for free.
“We suffered a little with their initial vehemence, but we reacted well to equalise and then take control, though it was tricky on a really awful playing surface.
“With this pitch, we knew that we had to make the most of set plays and Milenkovic did very well with his goal. In fact, this was why we had chosen him tonight.
“We had studied Sivasspor, so we knew what this team was capable of and wish them all the best for the future. We did our homework, and this I think shows how much we care about the Conference League.”
After eight consecutive victories, Fiorentina have to be one of the candidates to win the entire tournament, following in the footsteps of Roma.
“We’ll wait to see who we get in the quarter-final, but we are proud of what we have achieved so far. We have the mentality of a real team.”