After the playoff with Puskas Akademia, Fiorentina is preparing for the first Conference League match. After two lost finals, Palladino’s team wants to try to rewrite recent history. We start this evening against the Welsh New Saints, with the Gigliati in full defensive emergency: “We are in an emergency in defense, with three suspended. We tried Pongracic with the team, but unfortunately he is not ready yet and will not be called up. We have worked in these days for the best team: whoever takes the field, even as an adapted player, will play a great game. I have intelligent and applied boys. And I will call up both Baroncelli and Kouadio, I had them in training camp, I have faith in them, I will follow them in the Primavera. and they are doing well. They will be on the bench”, said the Viola coach Raffaele Palladino in a press conference on the eve of the cup match.
Against the Welsh in defense there will certainly be Moreno, one of Fiorentina’s summer transfer signings: “Yes, he will play, he is the only central defender we have left. He trained well, when he arrived he wasn’t in good shape physically but now he has worked, it’s a great opportunity.”
Three or four defense? Palladino doesn’t go too far
“Let’s keep a veil of mystery, I don’t want to give advantages to the opponents. Having the maturity to play both as a three and as a four, we want to keep this secret. But I liked how the team interprets this new system with the 4-2-3-1 We have to improve up front but we’re solid at the back. However, Empoli was defending with five men, that’s why I always say that numbers and systems leave their mark… Tomorrow we face a complicated team, there will be pitfalls, they are champions. of Wales and they have won three of the last five championships. They will have the game of their lives, we will have to play well and with quality.”
Edoardo Bove also spoke alongside Palladino in the press conference. The former Roma player has no intention of underestimating his opponents
“Unfortunately, I remember Roma’s 6-1 win against Bodo/Glimt well and I think it is testimony to how underrated this competition is. Going to play on those pitches is absolutely not a given. Maybe the pitch is artificial or not in perfect conditions, you find temperatures that you’re not used to… You’re faced with realities that you don’t experience. We in Italian football are well used to it. There will be difficulties, especially if you approach it in the wrong way, then it’s difficult to get back into competition to be able to do it.”
Those summoned
These are the players called up for this evening’s match against the New Saints. The suspended Lucas Martinez Quarta, Luca Ranieri and Pietro Comuzzo are absent, as well as Marin Pongracic, with the coach having to invent the defense for the Franchi match.
Goalkeepers: De Gea, Martinelli, Terracciano.
Defenders: Baroncelli, Biraghi, Dodo, Gosens, Kayode, Kouadio, Moreno, Parisi.
Midfielders: Adli, Bove, Cataldi, Colpani, Mandragora, Richardson.
Attackers: Beltran, Gudmundsson, Ikone, Kean, Kouame, Sottil.