Italiano: 'Fiorentina finally clinical, Nzola wants out of AFCON ...

Vincenzo Italiano maintains Fiorentina are finally ‘starting to become concrete and clinical’ after the 1-0 win over Torino and confirms M’Bala Nzola wants to skip the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Viola notched up a third consecutive 1-0 victory in Serie A to temporarily catch Milan in third place, confirming their ambitions for a Champions League spot this season.

They are also through to the Conference League Round of 16, having reached the Final of both this tournament and the Coppa Italia last term.

“It has been an incredible 2023,” Italiano told DAZN.

“We played so many games and achieved some great moments of satisfaction. We conclude this calendar year with a hard-fought victory where we once again proved we do not give up.”

It was defender Luca Ranieri who nodded in the Michael Kayode cross late on to finally get the better of Torino, after Pietro Terracciano had made several big saves.

The series of 1-0 results reflects a change in attitude from Fiorentina, who remain rather wasteful upfront nonetheless.

“We were conceding too many goals, whereas now we all sacrifice ourselves and even the strikers help out in defence. This is why we are in our current position in the table, we are starting to become concrete and clinical.

“We can suffer under pressure, but we hang in there and stay in the game, giving ourselves the opportunity to win.”

There are also a few tactical adjustments helping Fiorentina to find other ways through closed-off opposition defences.

“When the other teams press us high and do not allow us to play out from the back, we have this long ball solution with Christian Kouame.

“We have not lost for a long time and when you get so many positive results, it allows you to train with a smile on your face. Celebrating and seeing the fans enjoy it so much, that puts fuel in the tank.

“Now we want to go as far as possible in every competition. We’ve got the Supercoppa Italiana in January, we want to stay in the top places and see what happens.”

There could be a boost for Fiorentina next month, as Italiano confirmed that M’Bala Nzola would rather avoid Africa Cup of Nations duty with Angola, but could face sanctions.

“He would like to remain with us, but we’ll see what is decided.”