Cesare Prandelli, the Fiorentina coach, said last night that Christian Vieri had an extra motivation for the second leg of the UEFA Cup final on Thursday.
Vieri, who scored for Fiorentina yesterday in their 2-2 draw with Sampdoria, will play a part against Rangers as both sides try to break the deadlock established in a scoreless draw at Ibrox.
"Vieri has a big motivation because he is going to retire at the end of the season and wants to go out on a high by winning the UEFA Cup," said Prandelli who brought the 34-year-old Italian inter-nationalist on as a substitute at Ibrox last week. However, Prandelli may now believe the veteran has done enough to earn a start against Rangers.
Giampaolo Pazzini missed yesterday's match through suspension but has been innocuous recently, particularly at Ibrox. Pablo Osvaldo, who started in his place, had a wretched match, clearing the way for Vieri to have an influential role in the semi-final.
Yesterday's draw at the Stadio Franchi means that AC Milan are within two points of Fiorentina in the race for the final Champions League place in Serie A. Prandelli, though, dismissed accusations of fatigue levelled at his side. "Fiorentina are in good condition and we don't feel tired," he said.
"We still have a slight advantage over AC Milan in the fight for the Champions League place but now our focus is solely on Rangers.
It is a big dream to make the final of the UEFA Cup. Now this is all we are thinking about. We know everything is in our own hands."
He conceded, however: "We know our play hasn't been as fluent in recent weeks and I would like us to play better but just it is all about results."
Prandelli was delighted with his squad's reaction after the trip to Glasgow. "I thanked all the players for the response they have given us in this great European journey but I give special thanks for their efforts at Ibrox in such demanding circumstances. There are great personalities in this squad and we have an extraordinary spirit."
Lorenzo Amoruso, the former Rangers captain, who was at yesterday's match, said: "Fiorentina reacted well to losing the opening goal but you could see the team was a bit tired. It is difficult to say how Thursday's match will go. Rangers lost to Celtic and Fiorentina also will feel like they have lost after losing an injury time equaliser."
He added: "Fiorentina have also played better at home than away in Europe this season and they will be confident they can win but Prandelli will also be aware Rangers have been better on the road, as well. He will be aware his team has to create while avoiding losing too much on the counter-attack with the pace of Jean-Claude Darcheville or Daniel Cousin."
Amoruso also said that fatigue could play a factor as both teams are feeling the effects of a gruelling end to the season.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article