Fiorentina were on the losing side of the Europa Conference League final for the second year in succession, losing 1-0 to Olympiacos in the 117th minute on Wednesday evening. Here are three talking points from an unfortunate evening in Athens.
Conference League final – Full time: Olympiacos 1-0 Fiorentina
Not enough to get it over the line, again
West Ham last year, and Olympiacos in 2024. Two consecutive losses in the Conference League final, both by single-goal margins. It’s tough to take, but one has to question whether either of those performances properly merited a piece of silverware. Fiorentina looked a touch too tense in large spells, particularly in the first half. The occasions and the circumstances weren’t particularly favourable – it was as close to a home final for Olympiacos as you could get without the game being played in their actual stadium. But still, Fiorentina were the bookies’ favourites heading onto the pitch and they arguably did have enough firepower in their ranks to get the job done, but psychologically, Italiano’s men looked nervous.
The issue has been obvious all along
It doesn’t take an expert to identify what has been Fiorentina’s problem area for large spells of the 2023-24 season – not just on their Conference League run. The lack of a reliable, natural goalscorer has held Italiano’s side back, not just in Europe, but in Serie A as well. Yes, they have a mixture of experienced and exciting players in the attacking department – Andrea Belotti, M’bala Nzola and Lucas Beltran namely – but none of them have truly made the no. 9 position their own. Surely this has to be an area that needs looking at in the summer as an immediate priority.
What next for Italiano?
The boring answer: Back to business straight away for the final Serie A game of the 2023-24 season against Atalanta on Sunday. After that though, things become a little less clear. The coach is out of contract on June 30, and has not yet extended with Fiorentina. At various parts of the second half of the season, he had been linked with a number of different clubs in Serie A, particularly with Napoli, although the Partenopei seem set to land the sought-after Antonio Conte. Thiago Motta is in line for the Juventus job and Paulo Fonseca is reportedly just a few small steps away from taking charge of Milan. Inter are obviously sticking with Inzaghi, Roma doesn’t seem a likely destination, which begs the question: Where would Italiano go if he did leave Fiorentina? Surely staying on and continuing with what has been a promising project thus far makes the most sense. Could he then make it a trilogy of Conference League finals? We will have to wait and see.