Vincenzo Italiano urges Fiorentina to forget cup failure and focus on Inter

Fiorentina boss Vincenzo Italiano has challenged his side to put their Supercoppa Italiana disappointment behind them by giving Inter Milan plenty to think about when they return to Serie A action.

I Viola were beaten 3-0 by Napoli in the semi-finals of the new four-team tournament held in Saudi Arabia last week, which Inter went on to win.

Italiano feels his squad can regroup to kick-start their domestic campaign as they look to maintain a challenge to finish in the top four.

Full time.#NapoliFiorentina 3 – 0 | 90′ + 5′ pic.twitter.com/h6DDPmvtqM

— ACF Fiorentina English (@ACFFiorentinaEN) January 18, 2024

“We won’t hide the fact that we’re disappointed by what we could have achieved, even if the team did what they had to do, apart from the unrepresentative result,” Italiano said.

“Now we have to project ourselves into the league with the desire, the anger and the determination to have an important journey, where we want to score points and do well, this is the objective.”

Italiano told Fiorentina club media: “What we did in the first half (of the campaign), no one can take that away from us – but the second half is always a different season.

“We need to continue to have fuel and push, facing the matches with determination because the objectives become decisive for everyone.

“We want to continue this important path in the second half also because we are in an important spot in the table and we want to stay there.”

Inter will be out to move back to the top of the table and capitalise on Juventus’ surprise 1-1 draw at home to struggling Empoli after seeing Arkadiusz Milik receive an early red card.

Italiano, though, feels Fiorentina can cause problems for Simone Inzaghi’s side at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

“It is an important match for us, it will be difficult because Inter are doing good from all points of view,” he said.

“But we are playing at home and we had the opportunity to work throughout the week on our playing principles and think of something useful to put Inter in difficulty.

“I hope it was useful for tomorrow and we will be be ready to do battle against one of the strongest teams.”