Palladino: "We'll play it out in the return match. I saw the boys very charged up. Their second goal should be cancelled out"

Florence, 1 May 2025 - Betis will play the first leg at the Benito Villamarin, but the final 2-1 leaves qualification wide open also for Fiorentina in view of the return match at the Franchi. Luca Ranieri's goal in the second half gave the group great confidence, with Gosens who almost scored the equaliser with a header from a corner. It will take a well-played game for ninety minutes and beyond, but all in all it can be done. Chelsea, at Djungarden, won 4-1, mortgaging the final in Wroclaw. Mister Raphael Palladino look at the glass half full at the end of the match. "The first 10 minutes we knew they would start strong, in a very hot stadium. We went behind but we didn't lose our composure, I liked the team. They played with courage and personality, there are many positive points. Obviously we are sorry for the defeat, but in the second goal De Gea told me that he didn't see the ball go because Bakambu obstructs the view and it's true, he was offside. But Antony put it at the crossroads, we take this result and believe in it, we want to go through hoping that Franchi is our extra man".

Did Kean's entrance change the match? “Moise has unique characteristics in our squad. Gud is a setter, Lucas is a second striker, Zaniolo too, Moise is the only first striker. In the first half, however, we played a great game all the same, while Moise was a nuisance to their entire defense. But the whole team played a courageous game, we could have conceded goals but also scored. The message I want to send is that we can do it: they have great champions, but we want to try again next Thursday”.

What do you take away from tonight? Can we make better use of the numerical superiority in midfield? "We take a lot of ideas from this match, in the middle of the field we had the upper hand, from behind they were less damaging. We had the extra man and we often found him, then we often took advantage of the change of play. In the first half we could have been a little quicker in the maneuver, we have to work on several things to put into practice in the return leg. However I perceived a nice positive energy, the boys at the end of the match were charged and we know that next Thursday we will have a lot of help from our fans".

Alessandro Latini