Alessandro Diamanti had the following to say after full time blew on Fiorentina’s semi-final first-leg success over Juventus: “We’re all chipping in here and whoever comes on does his bit for the cause. This was a great win today. We know how good we are and we try to show our quality on the pitch. “Salah? He’s fast, skilful and he sticks them away too – what a player! “We don’t have any priorities, we just focus on training and playing matches. “The return will be a real test for us but we’ll have our fans behind us.” Later José Maria Basanta said: “We’ve only won the first half of this tie and the return leg will be extremely tough. We’re up for it, though. We’re even stronger after coming through such a difficult week as this last one. “I think we’ve moved up a notch with Salah – he’s in fantastic form and has settled right in here. I’m happy with our performance. We all seemed totally focused on the task at hand.” ]]>

Sporting director Daniele Pradè had his say after the Viola’s Coppa Italia semi-final first-leg triumph at Juventus Stadium. “Salah brings a lot of quality to our attacking play. He scored a ridiculous goal knocking the ball past his man and basically running onto his own pass in space as kids do on the playground. It wouldn’t be fair to only talk about him though when the rest of the team have played so well. “We didn’t even talk about Salah until 27 January. Then, when we found out that Chelsea were going to pay Cuadrado’s release clause, we started looking at what our best option was. Credit to the lad too for being up for it. “Salah had some impressive seasons in the Champions League and Europa League with Basel. It’s easier for a forward to settle into an attacking team like Montella’s. “Neto deserves plaudits for his professionalism.”
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Vincenzo Montella was interviewed by Rai after Fiorentina’s Coppa Italia victory over Juventus: “I was worried about our opponents today and now I expect a really tough return leg. I feared we might ease up a little after our recent excellent results. Instead we were brave and played with a swagger, especially at the start of the second half – that’s when we won it. We showed we’re solid, mature side. “Salah is on fire at the moment but the team as a whole has been playing consistently well since November and that makes a difference. “We have a large squad and I think lots of players are on the same level. I have plenty of options to choose from and the January transfer window helped in that sense. Gilardino deserves to be playing more but I’m sure he’ll help us out too.” ]]>

Mohamed Salah put on a match-winning performance as Fiorentina recorded a famous victory at Juventus in the Coppa Italia semi-final. The Egyptian forward was the star of the show with a superbly taken brace but it was a magnificent team effort that enabled the Viola to take a 2-1 first-leg advantage back to Florence. Salah gave Montella’s side an 11th-minute lead when he collected the ball from a cleared corner, hit the turbo boost and jet-heeled away from the black and white stripes, running the length of the pitch before firing confidently past Storari into the top corner. Fernando Llorente levelled matters with a fine header before Salah stepped up again in the second period to restore the lead after Joaquin had won the ball outside the Juve area. For the record, this was Fiorentina’s first Coppa Italia victory in Turin since 1935. Their place in the final is by no means assured, however: they still have to come through the return leg at the Stadio Franchi on 7 April. ]]>