Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano admits their Europa Conference League final defeat to West Ham was tough to take.
West Ham won 2-1 with Jarrod Bowen scoring the decisive goal in the final minute.
Italiano said, We lost two Finals that we played really well and that is a pity, because tonight honestly I could not imagine it ending this way. We played, we had chances, we equalised straight away after a penalty that could've killed us. Instead, we reacted, could've taken the lead with Mandragora.
Then with this ricochet in midfield, we should've given ourselves a few metres of leeway. It would've allowed us to reach extra time, when I think we might've had a few advantages. I'm sad, because the lads were distraught and losing two Finals is really painful."
Italiano also said: We started the XI that gave us the right balance, as we allowed barely anything from West Ham. We played the way you need to play a Final, running few risks and controlling the game. We were beaten by a soft penalty and a very avoidable goal. I feel we played like a real team today.
We had read those situations so well throughout the match, we really did not expect to lose that way. It was a situation we know how to deal with, we know how to interpret it and we didn't do what we needed to. We could even have taken one for the team with a foul and stopped him, but above all we should've tracked back and get a few metres."