Vincenzo Montella was furious with the referee after Fiorentina’s 1-0 defeat to Parma, but confessed his own players wasted chances.
There was tension after the final whistle, as Montella was sent off from the touchline for his protests, then punched an advertising backdrop as he stormed off, not realising there was a steward behind it.
The steward was medicated on the scene, but only has a slight bruise.
Vincenzo Montella was furious with the referee after Fiorentina’s 1-0 defeat to Parma, but confessed his own players wasted chances.
There was tension after the final whistle, as Montella was sent off from the touchline for his protests, then punched an advertising backdrop as he stormed off, not realising there was a steward behind it.
The steward was medicated on the scene, but only has a slight bruise.
“I never talk about referees, but sometimes you have to. I didn’t lose because of the referee, but I didn’t understand from start to finish what the rules were,” a still livid Montella told Sky Sport Italia.
“Some shoulder-to-shoulders were free kicks, others weren’t. They hit the bar with a foul. At the 94th minute I really lost my temper, but I didn’t go over the top. The lads told me there was also a penalty on Chiesa at the end.
“Now I will start naming referees when they get it wrong, just as people name me when I make a mistake.
“After that, I struggle to talk about a game where we missed from a yard, hit the woodwork and accidentally cleared our own chances off the line. It’s one of those years.
“We were in front of the goalkeeper seven or eight times, we haven’t scored in a month, it’s difficult to explain. We make the wrong final ball, we get the finish off target, it must be down to anxiety.
“We’ve played well enough against Milan, Empoli and also Parma today. Everything just seems to be going wrong. We mustn’t play the victim card, we need to unite, pool our common energy and prepare for the next match.”
Fiorentina needed only a point today to be sure of safety, but now go into a head-to-head with Genoa.
“We have to come together and not waste energy during the week that we could otherwise focus on the game. We mustn’t think that everything is a disaster and throw the baby out with the bathwater. We must play with belief and no fear.”
Montella was asked why he had left Luis Muriel on the bench and started Giovanni Simeone.
“I expected Parma to be clammed up to begin with and open up in the second half, so I wanted to keep Muriel on the bench for fresh legs to change the game.”