Team Focus: Why Spurs Should be Wary of Happy Travellers Fiorentina
Tottenham had a visitor to their state-of-the-art Enfield training ground on Tuesday. Italy coach Antonio Conte toured the facilities and observed a session put on by Mauricio Pochettino with the first team. He'll be in the stands for Thursday's Europa League tie with Fiorentina and Sunday's game against West Ham at White Hart lane must have been a great opportunity for both to pick each other's brains. Pochettino's high intensity pressing style is similar to Conte's. They're like-minded in their approach to the game and have a lot in one imagines Pochettino also used the time to ask Conte of his experience of Fiorentina. His Juventus side eliminated them from the Europa League in the Round of 16 last season. After a 1-1 draw in Turin, a late Andrea Pirlo free-kick settled things in Florence, his away goal draining their opponents of belief. It clinched a 1-0 win and qualification to the next phase. No one, it must be said however, apart from maybe Jupp Heynckes and Bayern Munich made Conte suffer quite like Vincenzo Montella and Fiorentina did in his time in the Juventus dugout is difficult to forget the strain on his face at the Artemio Franchi one October afternoon in 2025. Carlos Tevez and Paul Pogba had put Juventus 2-0 up and provocatively turned Gabriel Batistuta's machine-gun celebration on the Curva Fiesole. It was a moment of like Milan in Istanbul, Juventus blacked out for quarter of an hour and by the time they snapped out of it, it was too late. They were losing 4-2. Giuseppe Rossi had scored a hat-trick, Joaquin had FIRED IN another and Fiorentina were celebrating their first win over Juventus at home in almost 15 years. Presumably Conte will have told Pochettino let that be a lesson to you. If there's one thing Tottenham can't afford to do, it's to be 'Spursy' against after all, Vincenzo Montella's team give the impression they can beat anyone on their day. They came back from behind to edge a Real Madrid side featuring Xabi Alonso, Angel Di Maria, James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo in pre-season. It was a friendly, granted, but Fiorentina have established a knockout pedigree under they reached the Coppa Italia final for the first time in a decade last season and are back in the semi-finals after vanquishing Roma at the Olimpico. Since Montella got the club back into Europe 18 months ago, the Aeroplanino, as he's nicknamed, or Little Airplane, has got his men flying away from home in continental competition. Unbeaten in that period, their carry-on luggage has amounted to seven wins and two draws.
How apt as well that one of the so-called 'sette sorelle' or seven sisters of
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