Palladino upset by Fiorentina second half against Panathinaikos: ‘We got nervous’ | OneFootball

Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino says that he is equally pleased and disappointed by Fiorentina’s performance in their 3-2 loss away to Panathinaikos in the Conference League round of 16 on Thursday night, as he saw a ‘brilliant’ reaction to going two goals behind, but an ‘inexplicable’ second half display, which cost them a hard-fought comeback.

The Viola have been in dire form recently, as the run of three consecutive Serie A defeats was ended by a slim 1-0 over Lecce, but they went right back to loss when falling 3-2 in Athens.

They were 2-0 down to goals from Karol Swiderski and Nemanja Maksimovic, completing the comeback in the space of three minutes through Lucas Beltran and Nicolò Fagioli, then seeing a Matias Moreno tap-in ruled offside.

epa11945117 Fiorentina’s Lucas Beltran celebrates scoring the 2-1 during the UEFA Conference League Round of 16, 1st leg soccer martch between Panathinaikos Athens and Fiorentina, at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece, 06 March 2025. EPA-EFE/GEORGIA PANAGOPOULOU

Instead, Tetê drilled into the near bottom corner to cap off a sluggish second half performance in Athens.

It is only the first leg of the Conference League Round of 16 and the decider will be next Thursday at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Click here to see how the action unfolded.

Palladino: Fiorentina ‘got nervous, that shouldn’t be an excuse’

Speaking to Sky Sport Italia after full-time, Palladino was asked whether he was more satisfied with Fiorentina’s response to going two goals behind, or more disappointed by his side’s second-half performance.

He replied: “Both, because I think we had a good first half despite the approach not being what we wanted. We conceded two goals, and then there was a brilliant reaction from the team. We put the opponents in difficulty, we got back to 2-2, then there was the disallowed goal.

“And then, inexplicably, there was this second half, again with the wrong approach, which led us to conceding that third goal.”

epa11945125 Panathinaikos’s Nemanja Maksimovic (2L) celebrates scoring the 2-0 during the UEFA Conference League Round of 16, 1st leg soccer martch between Panathinaikos Athens and Fiorentina, at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece, 06 March 2025. EPA-EFE/GEORGIA PANAGOPOULOU

Palladino continued with his analysis: “I’m really sorry because the boys were the first ones to want to do better in the second half in the dressing room. We got a bit nervous, probably because time was running out and we got carried away by the game.

“Obviously, that shouldn’t be an excuse, it’s not an alibi, but I saw some of the guys get nervous in the second half. But, it’s not over because we have the second leg. I’ve seen the team looking disappointed but fired up, so they are eager to overturn this result.”