The first leg of the Conference League round of 16 took place in Budapest: Fiorentina-Maccabi Haifa 4-3.
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Fiorentina returns to the European stage of the Conference League after finishing first in the group thanks to three wins and as many draws against Genk, Ferencvaros and Cukaricki.
Awaiting her tomorrow (9pm) is the first leg of the round of 16 against Maccabi Haifa from the Europa League and winner of the play-off played in February against Gent.
Vincenzo Italiano's team, finalists in the last edition (lost 2-1 to West Ham), are considered favourites, but the Viola coach doesn't have confidence also because this double match is being played in a particular climate: due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tomorrow, like some previous European matches of Dego's team, tomorrow's match will also take place on a neutral pitch, at the Bozsik Arena in Budapest, and it is not excluded that the return match, on March 14th at Franchi, will be played at home closed for safety reasons.
The same ones for which a massive presence of law enforcement and very careful checks are expected for tomorrow.
At the moment, around 4000 Maccabi supporters are announced, including those residing in Hungary and those coming from Israel, while around 400 fans should be following Fiorentina.
''We are all here praying and hoping that peace will be achieved, no one wants to see images of war and destruction again,'' declared Italiano before speaking about the match.
Both he and his players have shown that they care a lot about the European competition and the objective, once again, is to try to get to the end.
''We continue our journey in the Conference against an opponent we must respect because he comes from the Europa League.
And then because there are absolutely no simple games and this one will be tough too.
However, we want to do well to present ourselves in the best possible way for the return match.
It will take attention and determination.
The level of our rivals in this tournament has grown and therefore we will also have to raise our performance level if we want to try to compete for the final victory again''.
Some changes are expected compared to the lineup that drew at Torino on Saturday, including Maxime Lopez, Ikoné, Faraoni and probably Nzola who should initially give Belotti a chance to catch his breath.
While Nico Gonzalez and Beltran should be confirmed, the latter was disqualified on Sunday against Roma.
The Viola are missing Arthur (knocked ankle), Martinez Quarta back from a break due to renal colic and Christian Kouamé who is awaiting competitive fitness to resume training after contracting malaria on his return from the Africa Cup of Nations.
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