Vincenzo Montella warns he doesn’t “believe” the theory that Inter are in crisis and Fiorentina have a Juan Cuadrado doubt.
Vincenzo Montella warns he doesn’t “believe” the theory that Inter are in crisis and Fiorentina have a Juan Cuadrado doubt.
It kicks off at the Stadio Franchi on Sunday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for a match preview.
“We are in good shape and psychologically the victory in Europe brought the enthusiasm we needed,” said Coach Montella of a 3-0 result away to Dinamo Minsk.
“Inter are a strong side with top class players, while Mazzarri always gets the best out of his teams. I was surprised by their defeat to Cagliari, but not by Zeman being behind it. I am sure they will be eager to make up for that setback.
“In attack they have players like Palacio, Icardi and Osvaldo who can all decide a game. Are Inter in crisis? I don’t believe that.
“This is a head-to-head for European qualification against Inter, just as against Lazio, Milan and Napoli. We hope to be in that battle right to the end.”
The Viola have an injury crisis to deal with, missing Mario Gomez, Giuseppe Rossi, Marko Marin, Joaquin and potentially Cuadrado, who is suffering from an inflamed knee tendon.
“Cuadrado has barely trained this week, so we’ll see between today and tomorrow whether he will be able to play,” continued Montella.
“We will use the two-week Serie A break for international duty to rest and recover – myself included.
“Can Babacar and Bernardeschi play together? In terms of characteristics yes, but we’ll see if they are suited to that from the start. Babacar has to focus more on the goal and moving to set himself up for a goal. In a way, Bernardeschi already has that, despite starting out as a winger.
“Fiorentina were constructed in a certain way to play a particular type of football and we cannot really veer away from that. We don’t have the characteristics to play the way many of our opponents do against us.
“It’s a shame we haven’t won a Serie A game at home yet and I don’t know how long that winless streak is at now, but this could be the right chance to change that.”