Daniele Pradè has spoken out about the refereeing decisions that have gone against Fiorentina in key games this season.

The Viola sporting director was speaking during an interview with Radio Rai the Monday after Fiorentina’s Serie A encounter with Inter, when the linesman, Mr Giallatini, and referee, Mr Damato, failed to spot Mauro Icardi’s blatantly offside position before scoring the match-winning goal.

Pradè said: “Yes, of course Fiorentina feel their cause is being harmed. Unfortunately refereeing mistakes are part of the game and you just have to accept them.

“I must say that we’ve already achieved two massive victories: the first is that we’ve brought Florentines back to the stadium, and the second is that we’ve rekindled a flame in the owners, the Della Valle family, especially at a time when there are fewer Italian owners and fewer major powers within the Italian game. We consider it a victory – as a club – to have given that enthusiasm back to the Della Valle family.

“But after suffering the huge loss of not getting into the Champions League last year because of a refereeing error, we can’t afford to find ourselves faced with similar situations again this season. This is something we must be very careful about. It’s a crucial message that has to be sent out to the ownership and also to the Fiorentina fans.

“We’re a strong club, a strong family. We’re a serious club on a sound financial footing. We all have to be careful. We’ve been deprived of big points against two of our direct rivals. And unfortunately those points lost to Napoli and Inter will make a difference to final league standings.”