Vincenzo Montella keeps faith with Alessandro Matri as Fiorentina” data-scaytid=”4″>Fiorentina visit “friend” Sinisa Mihajlovic’s Sampdoria” data-scaytid=”7″>Sampdoria.
Vincenzo Montella keeps faith with Alessandro Matri as Fiorentina visit “friend” Sinisa Mihajlovic’s Sampdoria.
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time, click here for a match preview.
“We do have an emergency situation in defence, but it’s not the first time. We’ll have to figure something out,” said Montella in his Press conference.
David Pizarro is also out along with Giuseppe Rossi, Mario Gomez, Manuel Pasqual, Marvin Compper, Ante Rebic and the suspended Gonzalo Rodriguez.
“We’ll see if Juan Manuel Vargas is able to recover today, as he has the best chance of making it. We can’t do anything else.”
Sampdoria have been rejuvenated under Mihajlovic, who had struggled badly in Florence.
“Objectively Sinisa has done great things since he went to the Samp bench. They have the utmost enthusiasm right now and that can be an advantage, as they play open and attacking football.
“Will he be more determined than ever because it’s against Fiorentina? Sinisa is competitive by nature, regardless of who he is facing.
“I am very happy to be back in Genoa, as I am friends with the fans, stadium, club and the Coach. I hope it can be wonderful day of sport and that Fiorentina can win!”
The Viola fell to a home defeat to Milan on Wednesday night, but Montella insists they still have a lot to play for.
“We need to set our objectives, because there are some. There’s fourth place and the possibility of opening up new scenarios if something changes ahead of us.
“In order to play our style of football, we need to be sharp and focused, which lately hasn’t been the case. Physically the team is fine, almost always better than our opponents, but mentally we are lacking something at the moment.
“Objectively our last push for third place was against Milan. Now we must try to have fun, get results while enjoying our football and then see what happens.”
Matri has struggled to make an impact since arriving in January from Milan, as he missed some sitters on Wednesday.
“He moves like a striker and creates scoring opportunities with his movements. I and the club have faith in him. He just needs to stay calm. Tomorrow he will play.
“Fiorentina’s goals per game average has dropped because half our strike force is injured. This season we played 46 matches and never had the full squad at our disposal. It was impossible to plan squad rotation and naturally some players lost their sharpness.”