Vincenzo Montella marks his 100th Fiorentina match in their Europa League meeting with Guingamp. “We care about this competition.”
Vincenzo Montella marks his 100th Fiorentina match in their Europa League meeting with Guingamp. “We care about this competition.”
The Viola have stuttered so far this season in Serie A, earning one point from two games and failing to score a single goal.
They host French side Guingamp in the Europa League opener on Thursday at 20.05 UK time (19.05 GMT).
“It is the start of the Europa League and we care about this competition,” assured Montella in his Press conference.
“Guingamp are a young team full of enthusiasm, so it will be complicated, but we must play like Fiorentina. If we create the same number of chances as we did against Genoa on Sunday, then I’d be happy.
“Guingamp are from a small town, but in Italy we have clubs like Chievo and Empoli who have done well. The strength of a squad does not depend on the number of inhabitants.”
This will be Montella’s 100th official outing on the Viola bench.
“It’s a nice achievement and means we played many games in a short space of time. We want to go far in the Europa League and I say that on behalf of the players and the club. We want to export a positive image abroad.
“Can we reach the Final? We have to give our best to go as far as possible. We have a competitive squad capable of doing well in Italy and Europe, but first of all we’ve got to win tomorrow.”
From this year, the Europa League winners will be given a berth in the Champions League.
“That is extra motivation and it would be important. It’d even allow us to finish sixth in Serie A and still qualify for the Champions League…”
Giuseppe Rossi is injured, Juan Cuadrado taking a while to find form after the World Cup and Mario Gomez wasting numerous chances.
“In order to score, Gomez has to play… but I will decide tomorrow whether he starts, as we have a long run of important games coming up.
“I don’t generally like to revolutionise my line-ups, but there will be a few changes compared to Sunday. We did well against Genoa at the weekend, but were only lacking in terms of finishing the chances. That’s something we already struggled with at the end of last season.”