Palladino has ‘one regret’ from Celje 1-2 Fiorentina, but ‘everything is still open’ | OneFootball

Raffaele Palladino feels that there is ‘one regret’ about Fiorentina’s performance in their 2-1 victory over Celje in the first leg of the Conference League quarter-final on Thursday evening, but feels that the Viola put in a ‘good performance’ overall.

Luca Ranieri and Rolando Mandragora gave Fiorentina a 2-1 advantage away against Celje, before a deficit-halving penalty from Logan Delaurier-Chaubet midway through the second half.

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Palladino: ‘One regret’ about Fiorentina victory against Celje

While it wasn’t always the most elegant of displays from Fiorentina, Palladino is pleased with what he saw, barring the fact that his side were not able to hold on for a clean sheet.

“If we analyse the game, we put in a good performance. I had excellent responses from everyone, and the team approached it in the right way. We knew that Celje had merit, and they showed it,” Palladino said in his post-match interview with Sky Sport Italia.

FLORENCE, ITALY – NOVEMBER 28: Head coach Raffaele Palladino of ACF Fiorentina reacts during the UEFA Conference League 2024/25 League match between ACF Fiorentina and Pafos FC at Stadio Artemio Franchi on November 28, 2024 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)

“The one regret is the goal we conceded, because at 2-0, we have to be better at understanding the run of the game and be better at moving the ball by playing simpler. Maybe a little bit of inexperience made us lose the ball. It’s a shame, everything is still open, but obviously we want to get through having faced a good team.”

Fiorentina picked up several bookings on the night, some to key players, but Palladino is not overly concerned about that: “I don’t get angry about bookings, because that’s part of football,” he said. “Maybe Dodo’s could have been avoided, but whoever plays (next week) will put in a good performance.”

Moise Kean and Albert Gudmundsson were given rests in Slovenia, which gave an opportunity for Lucas Beltran and Nicolo Zaniolo to start up front.

Asked about the latter, Palladino said: “Zaniolo had a good game, he fought with the team, as a first and second striker. I’m happy with everyone else. Folorunsho adapted to a role that he isn’t used to it. Moreno got booked and I preferred to take him off.”

Fiorentina have recently changed from a 4-2-3-1 system to a 3-5-2, which Palladino feels was a necessity.

“We changed our principles a bit. Before, we defended lower because that’s what the team felt we needed. Now we feel more confident, we’re finding more benefits and we have a lot of quality in the middle, as well as our good defenders and strikers.

“We’ve found the right path. The work we’ve done from the first day of pre-season training has brought us this far, and we have to follow it until the end of the season.”