FLORENCE (ITALPRESS) – “For us tomorrow, the goal is to give a great performance because we face a very good team that is first in the Cypriot league standings, who defeated Apoel who beat us in the Conference. We know they are a team with values, who can play soccer, defend, attack, so it will not be easy. There is a lot of motivation because we lost points on the road and a win would allow us to stay in the top eight, which is our goal to make one less round of the playoffs.” This was said by violet coach Raffaele Palladino on the eve of Fiorentina-Pafos, a match valid for the Conference League group stage. The lily coach made it official that Marin Pongracic, who is coming back from a long stop, will be a starter tomorrow. “Pongracic starts tomorrow from the beginning because he has worked well in this period, he has been so long out due to the injury he had before the match against Lazio,” Palladino explained. “For us he is an important player, we have to make him recover his physical condition and minutes in the game. The first step has been done, he played some minutes on Sunday, tomorrow he starts from the beginning, so maximum confidence in him. We are recovering everyone, even Gudmunsson,” although he will not be summoned, “as well as Richardson who will be back in a few days. We are almost all in and that for me is fundamental,” Palladino concluded. “I don’t think that tomorrow night there is a risk of thinking about the match with Inter, because we know very well that matches in Europe are never easy – the words of Fiorentina midfielder Danilo Cataldi – We found this out in the last match we played where we played in my opinion a good match against a good team (Apoel, ed.) that did well at home, and we came out with zero points. When you go to European territory you cannot take anything for granted.” The former Lazio man, back from a calf problem, explained that he was “feeling a little better, probably not 100 percent. We also talked with the coach during the last national team break and we managed well some problems I had on my shoulders that still have not completely passed.”
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
Palladino “So much motivation, lost points on the road”
