Rolando Mandragora admits the 30-yard stunner to beat Atalanta is ‘one of the best goals of my career,’ but he warns Fiorentina the Coppa Italia semi-final job is not done.
It was a strong performance from the hosts, who largely dominated the match, but only emerged with a 1-0 result thanks to the incredible Mandragora scorcher from 27.6 metres out – over 30 yards.
“I feel great joy, we needed this victory, it gives us confidence and we know that we’ll need another great performance in the second leg,” the midfielder told Mediaset.
“It’s probably one of the best goals of my career, I’m pleased.”
Oh my word…Rolando Mandragora!!! 😱😱
A stunning, swerving strike from distance to give Fiorentina the lead 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ixxn8LFfvs
— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) April 3, 2024
Marco Carnesecchi kept the scoreline down with a series of saves and Luca Ranieri accidentally hooked an Andrea Belotti header away from goal on a corner.
“There are regrets, we wanted to score more goals, we played with character and now have to finish the job in the second leg.”
This 1-0 result means a place in the Coppa Italia Final is still all to play for going into the second leg on April 24 in Bergamo.
“What we want is to lift silverware, I think Fiorentina never had bad performances this season, we just struggled perhaps to finish off our chances. We need to keep pushing.”
Fiorentina are in their third consecutive Coppa Italia semi-final and lost last season’s Final to Inter, as well as the Europa Conference League Final to West Ham United.
ROLANDO MANDRAGORA WITH A LONG-RANGE GOLAZO FOR FIORENTINA 🚀 pic.twitter.com/1CSST9QhyH
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 3, 2024