The Viola coach Giuseppe Iachini insisted that Fiorentina will travel to Inter with the target of progressing to the Coppa Italia semi-finals on Wednesday night, though the Viola coach did acknowledge the size of the challenge facing his side at San Siro as he appeared at a pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“We’re playing at a tough ground against a very good side in Inter,” said Iachini. “Antonio Conte has given them a strong identity already so we’ll need to produce the perfect performance. We need to play very well. When you come up against teams of this calibre on their patch, you have to show personality, organisation and attitude.”
Iachini hinted that he may make some changes to the side after a draining run of fixtures.
“The Genoa game was our fourth in just over 12 days, so we’ve made a huge effort physically,” he said. “I need to look at things – there was a bit of fatigue yesterday, which is to be expected. We’ll see today and I’ll make my decisions based on how fresh the players are. [Pietro] Terraciano and [Federico] Ceccherini will definitely play, but in terms of the midfield and attack I’ll base my decision on how the players have recovered.”
Iachini was bullish when asked about Fiorentina’s chances of pulling off a result at San Siro.
“It’s going to be a tough game but we don’t like losing practice games in training or when we’re playing with our kids, so obviously we want to go there and try and take our opportunities and give ourselves something to celebrate,” he said. “When we played Atalanta, even when we were a man down, our aim was to get the win – we did that and now we need to prepare to do it again. We play away from home against a very good side, but we’ll try to take our chance. The absences don’t matter – there are no excuses. This is Fiorentina. I want 18 animals out there playing with organisation, spirit and attitude.”
The Fiorentina coach also looked back on the Viola’s start to the new year, which sees them unbeaten in five games in all competitions.
“When I joined we were three points off the relegation zone and now we’re ten points clear after four games,” he said. “It’s not done yet but it was a really worrying time for the club when we came in. We’re working hard to keep improving – nobody has a magic wand but there are some positive signs that are encouraging. The team is looking more organised and is building a mentality. We look more organised both defensively and offensively, but the only thing we can do is continue working to improve.”
(Photo Getty Images)
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Source: legaseriea.it