Vanoli: ‘Fiorentina job not done yet, now to dream with Crystal Palace’
Paolo Vanoli warns ‘the job is not yet done’ for Fiorentina after beating Lazio to break eight points clear of the bottom three. ‘Now we will try to dream against Crystal Palace.’
The mood in the Viola camp was poor after Thursday’s 3-0 Conference League quarter-final defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, but it was no secret that their focus this season had to be on securing Serie A safety.
With Cremonese and Lecce losing this weekend, they knew a victory with Lazio would put them eight points clear of the drop zone with six rounds left to play.
It was a slender win, decided by the Robin Gosens header at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, as well as some big David De Gea saves on Mattia Zaccagni and Petar Ratkov.
Vanoli keeps Fiorentina focused
“It is nice to look at the table now, but the job is not done yet,” Vanoli told DAZN Italia.
“I want to thank the lads, who prepared well with character, sacrifice and a team spirit to the end through seven minutes of added time. We could’ve scored a second goal with a bit more quality in the final third, but I couldn’t really have asked for more.”
Fiorentina now try to overturn a massive 3-0 deficit when hosting Crystal Palace in the second leg of the Conference League quarter-final on Thursday evening.
“Now we must recharge the batteries and try to dream all over again in the Conference League. We are in front of our fans, so we have to believe,” added Vanoli.
“A team like this was not accustomed to being in the relegation zone. Now hopefully we can have a bit more freedom and be less frenetic, because many errors are caused by that too. We owe it to ourselves and our fans to give it our all in the Conference League too.”
The surge has been undeniable, as in the last nine Serie A rounds, Fiorentina picked up 18 points, fewer only than Inter and Napoli’s 20 in that same period.
Considering those results, does Vanoli believe he could put his name forward to stay on next season?
“I always had faith in the club and when I arrived here, I knew we needed something remarkable. I never thought about the future, I just focused on the good of Fiorentina, and the words of the President when I signed the contract, and sadly he has since died.
“My job is not yet done.”
Another big change in February was the arrival of director Fabio Paratici, who has helped bring some stability to the Viola.
“His curriculum speaks for him, he has won a great deal in many international clubs. He is a great professional and we are all very happy to have him here.”