Fiorentina's D'Agostino reacts to the UEFA draw

The UEFA Europa League draw has been made and Tottenham are now set to face Italian side Fiorentina in the last 32.



Tottenham have twice beaten Fiorentina in pre-season friendly games. In 2001, a memorial game for former Spurs coach Bill Nicholson ended with us winning 3-0 and in 2010 Robbie Keane the scored twice in a 3-2 win in his pre-season testimonial game.

Gaetano D'Agostino is a midfield playmaker for Fiorentina and he remembers the Robbie Keane's Testimonial in 2010 as he recals to Tutto Mercato Web.

"The memory I have is beautiful, certainly, but I have no doubts about the possibility of Fiorentina. The important thing is that there is not a lot of goals in the first leg because English teams suffer more away. 

"I do not believe that Tottenham is favored, the technical level of Fiorentina is good and I believe in the next round. There is every chance to do well: Fiorentina is recovering well in the league, watching the latest results. The Tottenham can scary only as a name, and thinking about the differences between English football and Italian football, but the Viola can do it. "

The international experience of some of the Fiorentina players will help them at White Hart Lane he feels.

"Certainly: Fiorentina Borja Valero, Gomez, Aquilani and Pizarro. All people who have that kind of experience. Without forget that even Montella knows how they work certain games, having played at the highest level. I do not see short reasons for all this fear emerged today.

Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella felt it was a tough but winnable tie. He is right, given Spurs erratic form the tie could go either way and being away in the second leg is not helpful for Spurs.

"They’ll be tough opposition. Their current standing in the Premier League belies the quality in the squad. It’s also worth remembering that they’re bound to dip into the transfer market in January to reinforce what is an already-strong squad with a top-quality midfield. 

"Having said that, I know my players and I’m convinced that they’ll give it their all, as they always do. We know how hard it is to go to England where the fans are always right behind their teams. But then I’m sure that our fans will be invaluable in the return leg at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. 

"When you play in this stage of the Europa League, you know you’re going to have to play the big teams sooner or later. Perhaps the Italian sides could’ve had a more favourable draw but we’ll certainly go for it.  

"If we all get through the round of 32, at a certain point some of us Italian sides may have to play each other, and of course that will mean an Italian team getting knocked out. 

"However, we all need to do everything we can to get as far as possible in the competition, seeing as it’s so important in terms of improving Italy’s UEFA coefficient."

It is well known now how Spurs struggle to create anything against a tight nit defence who sit in banks in front of us, four losses at home are testament to that. The key to the tie might be how much space we get to operate but we still get cut open far too easily. 

It's winnable but will not be easy, there are easier ties we could have had, especially if we had made sure and won the group.

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