Rolando Mandragora has urged Fiorentina to move forward and put the heavy defeat against Inter in the background. The Viola fell to their first heavy defeat of the new season, a 4-0 defeat to the Nerazzurri, after going unbeaten in their first two league games. He admitted the Viola were ecstatic and tired from their win over Rapid Wien two days earlier.
Speaking to Radio Sportiva (via ViolaNews), Mandragora shared his opinion on Fiorentina qualifying for the UEFA Europa Conference League.
“We have to put the defeat against Inter to rest, it’s not nice to lose in this way, but we achieved our first goal of the season which was to enter the Conference. Tiredness shouldn’t be an alibi, but now we have to go further and think about the next matches. We know that in Europe it is never easy or obvious to win matches, we are happy to have made it through and we want to have another great year. The fans always give us a great hand and we want to give them satisfaction.”
The Viola welcomed eight new faces into the squad, and Mandragora thinks it will only reinforce the competitiveness among the teammates.
“Competition is good for everyone and raises the level. It’s right to have competition in a strong team like Fiorentina. Vincenzo Italiano manages to keep us all on track, with his principles and his ideas, the choices will be his and we are fully available”.
He believes Fiorentina can rid the demons of their immediate past, as they succumbed in back-to-back finals to Inter and West Ham United.
“I don’t think there are any substantial differences from the previous season. There was certainly growth in the whole group over the course of last season, compared to the beginning. We hope that if we were to get to the end, this time we can bring home something. Personally I feel more mature and I want to carve out more and more space for myself in this Fiorentina.”
Mandragora and Fiorentina will resume their season against Atalanta on 17 September when Serie A gets back into action.
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