Fiorentina out of Conference League: Betis shatters Viola dream

The whistle that ends the second half of extra time puts the Fiorentina and it's like a punch in the stomach of the team. Of the players. Of the fans. They collapse, tired and disappointed, Mandragora, Colpani, Ranieri, Beltran. They go to the ground while the Betis his party begins. Fiorentina wanted the final. They believed in it and the feat had begun to be put together, in the first half. Then... then what happened happened. The coach, the experience of the Spanish coach, Pellegrini, has moved the right pawns to anesthetize the ideas and the (so much) heart of the purple team. Yes, the heart. The one that Palladino's team has put in as always. Maybe even more, that heart that Fiesole has seen, felt and appreciated, calling the team under the curve for a greeting that smells (too) intensely of bitterness. Of disappointment. Of bad luck.

The players went under the ultras to exchange the last European applause of the season. Chants and scarves welcomed everyone in an embrace that only Florence is able to give to its team even in a dark moment like the end of the dream of flying to the Conference final for the third consecutive time. Everyone was there to listen to the greeting from Fiesole. There were those, like Gosens, who had put their signature on an extraordinary evening or those, like Adli, who had not played their part to the best of their ability.

Capitan Ranieri he was the first to reach the fans. To applaud them, to thank them, to shout that they, the players, the team, the locker room cared about the miracle of knocking out Betis and they came within a millimeter of hitting the target. The Betis party begins while the Viola leave the Franchi with their heads down. Now the goal becomes to clean up the standings and aim, via the championship, for the Europe of the future: but there are three games to win, out of three. The last ones.