Vanoli: ‘Fiorentina pride in fight back with Crystal Palace’
Paolo Vanoli was ‘proud’ of Fiorentina after they beat Crystal Palace, but went out of the Conference League. ‘If we had a full squad, we proved we can play at this level.’
The Viola had given themselves a mountain to climb after losing the first leg 3-0 at Selhurst Park and ultimately that late goal made a big difference in the tie.
They also conceded early into this evening’s match with an Ismaila Sarr counter-attack, but turned it around through the Albert Gudmundsson penalty and Cher Ndour strike.
It wasn’t quite enough, as Fiorentina win on the night 2-1, but go out in the Conference League quarter-finals 4-2 on aggregate.
Vanoli proud of Fiorentina performance
“It was wonderful to see our fans pushing us on in the stands again, and I can only compliment these lads,” Vanoli told Sky Sport Italia.
“We all believed going in that we could achieve something remarkable. The early goal knocked the wind out of our sails, but I appreciated the pride shown to try until the very end.
“I feel that since the start of the season, this has been one of our most important performances. We beat a Premier League team, and if you look at the first leg, individual errors were costly, we didn’t keep our heads in the game.”
The Tuscans have managed to balance the Conference League commitments with Serie A, where they had to mount a desperate comeback to clamber off the foot of the table.
That is where they were when Vanoli took over, but are now eight points clear of the relegation zone thanks to Monday’s 1-0 win over Lazio.
“I focus on working every day with these lads, I think you can see the work has paid off, and the club is right behind us,” continued Vanoli.
“I am proud of the team tonight, because to see them fight like this, it means I’ve passed something on to them.”
His future remains in doubt, as Vanoli is not expected to remain beyond the end of this season.
“I feel we are laying the foundations to get Fiorentina back into a more important position. I told them now we must not take a step back, but instead keep going forward, because there’s another fiery atmosphere awaiting us in Lecce and we’ve got to prove to the end that we are developing.”
Ndour seems to have really hit form after playing regularly in recent weeks and it paid off at international level for the Italy Under-21 side too.
“I always admired Ndour and watched him play for the Under-21s, his growth has been exponential this season,” added Vanoli.
“I saw the same for Fagioli and others, they need to keep working. I always said midfielders must take shots from outside the box, and more of them are doing that lately. Sometimes you need a little patience with young players.”
Nicolò Fagioli went off at half-time with an injury, adding to the absentee list.
“We reached this game, but above all the first leg, with a decimated squad. We got Manor Solomon back today, which allowed us also to put Gudmundsson between the lines. We also played three at the back, because I wanted to find him in that position, even if the midfielders tended to drop a bit too often together.
“I think if we’d had a full squad available, we proved that we can play at this level,” concluded Vanoli.
Crystal Palace will now face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Conference League semi-final, while Rayo Vallecano take on Strasbourg.