Crystal Palace are in a commanding position in their Conference League quarter-final tie with Fiorentina, but the Eagles have been warned that the Serie A side “believe in the miracle” ahead of the second leg in Florence.
Palace’s 3-0 win in the first leg at Selhurst Park put them on the cusp of their first European semi-final, with Shakhtar Donetsk the likely opponents in the last four after beating AZ Alkmaar by the same scoreline in the first leg.
Oliver Glasner’s men are likely to be full of confidence after following up their first-leg win by coming from behind to beat Newcastle United 2-1 in the Premier League on Sunday, Jean-Philippe Mateta scoring both of their goals after netting against Fiorentina.
However, Fiorentina have considerable pedigree in this competition having reached the final twice and the semi-final last season.
And they are coming off an excellent result of their own, beating Lazio 1-0 at home to move eight points clear of the Serie A relegation zone with six games to play.
Fiorentina have been in excellent form at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in recent times, and Rolando Mandragora sent a warning to Palace in his pre-match press conference.
“We’ve managed to keep ourselves alive and are still in the running. It will take a big feat but we believe in the miracle,” Mandragora said.
“We’ve often suffered comebacks in the second leg in the past few years. Now could be the right time to do it ourselves. Of course, we’ll need the perfect game and that Palace will concede against us. It will be difficult, but we believe in it.
“We can do something special with the support of our fans. We didn’t want to disappoint them with a result like that in the first leg. But for most of the game, the performance was there, there were chances. We’ll try to play our game at home, even if they are strong and complete.”
Team news for Fiorentina v Crystal Palace
Defender Dodo is suspended for Fiorentina after he was booked in the first leg.
Striker Moise Kean is a doubt with a calf issue, while Fabiano Parisi and Niccolo Fortini could also miss out. Right-back Tariq Lamptey is unavailable because of a knee injury.
Palace will be without Eddie Nketiah due to a hamstring injury, while Evann Guessand has a knock.
