Italiano: “Olympiacos has great quality – an additional challenge for us is that the final is held in Athens”

Olympiacos and Fiorentina will compete on Wednesday night (29/5, 22:00) in the final of this year’s Conference League, with the coach of the “violas”, Vicenzo Italianoto give an interview to the official UEFA website, talking about the big match!

The Italian coach spoke about his team’s feat of reaching the final of the competition for the second consecutive season, while he described the “red and whites” as a team of very high quality and made it clear that the fact that this year’s final is being held in Athens and at the OPAP Arena , is an extra challenge for him and his footballers.

What the coach of Fiorentina said in detail:



“We are very proud to be in a European final for the second consecutive season. All of us are happy. We have played in a European competition for two consecutive years and reached the final both times. It’s a great joy and it’s the culmination of three amazing years of hard work.

Last season we had a great journey, although the ending was not so great. This year we have repeated it, which was not easy at all. We will try to do our best because Fiorentina have not won a trophy for many years. We have the same opportunity as last year and this time we will try to prepare better. I hope our efforts, our hard work, all the attention to detail we put into this event, will bring us the icing on the cake.”.

For Olympiakos: “If you’ve managed to win a semi-final in two games against Aston Villa, you’ve got to be good. And the final will be a home game for them. Granted, it’s not their home ground, but they’ll be playing in their hometown. I think this is an additional challenge for us.

But once you get on the pitch, once the referee starts the match and you’re there, everything else becomes secondary. We’ll just have to focus on beating an opponent who, for me, has quality, ability and we’ll try, as we always do, to get the most out of the game.”.

On what winning the trophy will mean for Fiorentina: “It would be a massive reward for everything we’ve done over the last two seasons in this competition. Fiorentina have topped the table for three years now. We continue to do well in the Conference League and celebrate a great tournament.

For me, this is the level Fiorentina should stay at. They can do it. This is what people want and what they have been clamoring for, this is the level at which we must operate.”.