Montella plans miracle turnaround in Florence

After last Thursday's crushing 3-0 first leg defeat in Seville, Fiorentina have picked themselves up, dusted themselves down and set about preparing themselves and the fans for an almighty push towards overturning the scoreline in the second leg. The focus has been very much about belief and the fans were given their opportunity to show the team their support in an open training session on Tuesday.

The preparation has been so ideal this week that if ever a team were to have the self-belief to turn around such a defecit, the time would be now. They will have to do so, however without Micah Richards, Juan Vargas and Nenad Tomovic, who all miss out through injury. Manager Vincenzo Montella has hinted that Josip Ilicic, who has recently discovered his shooting boots with four goals in two games, may start from the bench.

Fiorentina will have to take care that in chasing the early goal that Sevilla do not hit them on the break, as they have proved to be so effective at doing so, but with essentially nothing to lose, the team will look to attack from the outset. Can the team pull it off? You would have to say that even to get the tie to extra time would be a tall order, but the belief is there, and a full stadium of 35,000 fans will get behind the team, hoping for a miracle comeback. All we can do is believe!

Projected Lineups

FIORENTINA: (4-3-3) NETO; ALONSO, BASANTA, GONZALO, SAVIC;  VALERO, PIZARRO, MATI; SALAH, GOMEZ, ILICIC

Sevilla: (4-5-1) Rico; Vidal, Carrico, Kolodziejczak, Tremoulinas; Krychowiak, Mbia, Reyes, Banega, Vitolo; Bacca