Italiano: ‘Fiorentina getting a penalty phobia’

Vincenzo Italiano confirms Fiorentina are starting to get a ‘phobia about penalties’ and Jonathan Ikone was not meant to step up, but congratulates Napoli for the Supercoppa semi-final win.

The Viola had the chance to cancel out the Giovanni Simeone angled drive when Ikone earned a penalty just before half-time, but he took it himself and ballooned over the bar.

Lucas Martinez-Quarta’s header hit the upright and the Lucas Beltran tap-in was disallowed, so late on substitute Alessio Zerbin bagged a quickfire brace for a far heavier 3-0 scoreline than the performances would suggest.

“We congratulate Napoli for having prepared so well for this game,” Italiano told Mediaset.

“Their system surprised us, but to be honest, we do know how to play against it. We missed a penalty that would’ve allowed us to equalise, we tried to get it back on level terms, but made mistakes late on and that was the end of it.

“When you lose 3-0, it is only right you tip your hat to the winners.”

The penalty just before half-time was a huge turning point and yet another wasted spot-kick for Fiorentina this season. Was Ikone meant to be stepping up in the absence of Nico Gonzalez.

“Ikone is one of those who can take penalties. He earned it and that gave him the confidence to take the ball in his hands, and the other penalty takers let him do it. When you earn it yourself and spend time in training practicing, it’s not right to take it away from him.

“We have to put an end to this ‘phobia’ of penalties right now, because aside from Nico, we are missing a lot of them and losing games with these misses.”

Fiorentina once again had a great deal of possession, but with very little genuinely attacking impact.

“Our only objective was to get through the semi-final, and we showed for 84 minutes that we were well in the game. We had to raise the tempo and it was not easy to break down a Napoli side who focused only on defending and then going on the counter.

“Unfortunately, the sterility we struggled with before has returned. We lost, but until the 84^th minute we were in the running and I really believed we could get it back on track.”

Considering Napoli played with a three-man defence, should Fiorentina not have tried their own system with three at the back that has been seen lately?

“We did very little work on that system and have only used it when in an emergency situation, whereas today we had options to choose from. We did most things well, won the ball back regularly, but were not incisive enough. It’s disappointing, we had a goal disallowed, missed a penalty and therefore had the chances.

“Nonetheless, congratulations to Napoli for being able to neutralise us.”

This defeat means the end of the competition for Fiorentina, who had qualified for this new Final Four format thanks to their status as Coppa Italia runners-up, losing the Final to Inter last season.

They had also lost the Final of the Conference League to West Ham United.