Italiano will not be drawn on Fiorentina future | OneFootball

Vincenzo Italiano feels Fiorentina ‘honoured’ the memory of director Joe Barone in their hard-fought game with Milan, but refused to comment on his possible exit.

This was an emotional night at the Stadio Franchi, the first match since director Joe Barone’s death from a heart attack, and there were tributes including banners, a choreography in the stands and children releasing white balloons into the sky.

The team tried to do him proud, fighting back immediately after the Ruben Loftus-Cheek opener to equalise with Alfred Duncan, but Rafael Leao won the game for Milan by sprinting around Pietro Terracciano to deposit into an empty net.

“I think we did everything we needed to do, especially limiting Milan in the first half, as they are in great form and the first objective was to lower their enthusiasm levels, which we achieved working man to man all over the pitch. The spirit of sacrifice was fantastic, but their goalkeeper made some stunning saves,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.

“We absolutely should not have conceded that second goal, but other than that I feel that we did our best. We honoured the memory of our director, the lads were completely exhausted at the final whistle, we caused huge problems for a big team like Milan and tomorrow we start again.

“I don’t think anyone could’ve complained if we had made it 2-2 and Maignan made two fantastic saves to avoid that. I think we played overall on level terms with Milan.”

The Viola are in Serie A, the Coppa Italia semi-final against Atalanta and the Conference League quarter-finals with Viktoria Plzen.

Last season, they reached the Final of both those tournaments and lost, so can they go all the way again and do even better?

“We recognised that we are lacking upfront and need to convert more of our chances. That is an issue for us, at times we cannot finish those opportunities and it is a recurring problem. We all talk about it, try to resolve it.”

Nico Gonzalez was only fit for a late cameo this evening against Milan, as he returned from international duty with Argentina exhausted.

“Our best player was so tired that he could only have a brief warm-up in training and didn’t even stay behind to practice penalties, so we have to rotate the squad at the moment. It’s what we did last season and what we will do again this time.

“It is unfortunate that we have these recurring problems that we can’t seem to resolve, but I have faith after seeing this performance where we caused big problems for a team like Milan in their current form.”

There are multiple reports that Italiano has already told Fiorentina he intends to leave at the end of the season, a decision that was already made before Barone’s death.

“I am not trying to avoid answering, but I insist we must try to concentrate on these remaining 13 matches this season and keep everyone focused. This sort of discussion does not help anyone, in my view, it can take away concentration.

“I am very angry and disappointed at the defeat, but also the future of Fiorentina is far more important than any individual, whether it’s me or the players. We have to throw all the passion, love and determination that Barone showed us during these years and put those elements into our performances for the rest of the season.”