Paratici: ‘Fiorentina in the battle to the end, Kean ready for Italy’
Fiorentina director Fabio Paratici insists they will ‘be in the battle to the end’ for Serie A safety and Moise Kean is ‘ready to give his contribution’ against Inter as well as for Italy.
It kicks off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).
The Viola have had quite the week so far, as on Monday they crushed Cremonese 4-1 to break away from the Serie A danger zone, then on Thursday came back from a goal down to beat Rakow 2-1.
That allowed them to set up a Conference League quarter-final against Crystal Palace.
Paratici leading new Fiorentina project
Although he just took over at Fiorentina in February, Paratici worked for many years with current Inter President Beppe Marotta.
“I haven’t run into Marotta yet, but I’m sure we will before kick-off,” Paratici told DAZN Italia.
“We shared a wonderful professional experience together, 14 years between Sampdoria and Juventus, he taught me a great deal, as did others at Juve and Tottenham.
“We took different paths, but we have two completely different roles and personalities, which is why we were complementary as a pair.”
With Cremonese beating Parma 2-0, plus home defeats for Cagliari and Genoa this weekend, the fight to avoid relegation is more uncertain than ever.
“We’re aware that we need to keep our heads inside the tank until the final day of the season, we know that is the situation and it won’t change. We had some wobbles, but also got through to the Conference League quarter-finals, picked up a lot of points, and will be in the battle to the end.
“So there is no fear, simply awareness of the situation.”
Kean was back in the starting XI on Thursday for the first time since March 2, and leads the line again today with Albert Gudmundsson.
Manor Solomon, Luca Lezzerini and Tariq Lamptey are still out of action, with Rolando Mandragora not even on the bench due to a calf twinge.
“Kean had two or three weeks where he couldn’t train, but he played 60 minutes on Thursday, is in the starting XI tonight, and we are all hoping he will do well with Italy. We must be united and optimistic, because we’ve got everything it takes to achieve our aim there.
“Kean is ready to give his contribution, to both Fiorentina and the Nazionale. Gudmundsson is a quality player too, we expect him to do what he is capable of, which is to bring that quality to the team.”