Rolando Mandragora recognizes that Fiorentina requires a ‘perfect game’ to overcome their 3-0 deficit against Crystal Palace in the second leg of their Conference League quarter-final. Despite the challenge, he issues a warning to the South London club, stating, “we believe in the miracle.”
The Viola are set to host Palace at the Stadio Franchi on Thursday evening, needing an exceptional performance to overturn the 3-0 loss they suffered at Selhurst Park last week. Crystal Palace are considered the favorites to win the Conference League title this season, but Fiorentina, who have been finalists twice before, are eager to salvage their largely disappointing season.
Mandragora previews Fiorentina vs. Crystal Palace second leg: ‘Difficult, but we believe in it’
During his pre-match press conference, Mandragora expressed, “We’ve managed to keep ourselves alive and are still in the running. It will take a big feat, but we believe in the miracle.” He added, “We’ve often suffered comebacks in the second leg in the past few years. Now could be the right time to do it ourselves. Of course, we’ll need the perfect game, and for Palace to concede against us. It will be difficult, but we believe in it.”
Mandragora hopes that the support of the home fans at the Stadio Franchi will inspire the players. “We can do something special with the support of our fans. We didn’t want to disappoint them with a result like that in the first leg. But for most of the game, the performance was there, there were chances. We’ll try to play our game at home, even if they are strong and complete.”
Fiorentina are currently on a five-game unbeaten streak in Serie A and have started to distance themselves from the relegation zone, sitting eight points clear after their 1-0 victory over Lazio on Monday night. Mandragora commented, “It’s been a one-off year, and the celebration the other night was a sort of liberation, even if it’s not over yet.” He continued, “We didn’t expect to have a season like this. We started with completely different goals and needed a lot of humility to change them. It wasn’t obvious we’d be in this situation.”
Despite the 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park, Mandragora believes there wasn’t a significant difference in quality between the Premier League and Serie A teams. “I honestly don’t (notice a difference in quality). Of course, the Premier League is elite, as is Serie A with its pros and cons. Every game has its own story, and the first leg told us they were better than us. We’ll see if we’re better than them in the second.”