Conference draw: Fiorentina, Maccabi-Sturm dreams

Second consecutive Conference final? Why not. Fiorentina can afford to dream: the average value of the tournament is not very high and in the draw for the round of 16 we start from the first pot. Avoiding Ajax today (mostly for the name), Dinamo Zagreb and St. Gillois, the road to the quarterfinals should not be difficult. However, among the unseeded teams there is no stronger team than Vincenzo Italiano’s team.

to avoid

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Fiorentina won the group, therefore entered the round of 16 by right. Some interesting surprises also came from the playoffs, such as the elimination of Betis Sevilla against Dinamo Zagreb, in line with a less than exciting European season for the Spanish team, at least so far. The defeat of Eintracht Frankfurt is also making noise: it is far from the one eliminated by Napoli in the round of 16 of the last Champions League, but it was not expected that it would end up knocked out by St. Gillois who therefore becomes an opponent not to be underestimated today in the draw for the round of 16 ( 1pm in Nyon). Ajax, in the most difficult season of recent years, is recovering: in the Netherlands they returned to the top of the table, but in the Conference they suffered to overcome Bodo Glimt in extra time. There were also some concerns from Dinamo Zagreb.

seeded heads

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The rest is definitely within reach: Servette, Sturm Graz and Maccabi Haifa (different from the one that defeated Juve last year) are more than affordable rivals. Olympiacos and Molde don’t seem up to par but they don’t seem like sacrificial victims either. The real problems will come later: in the seeding pot, next to the Viola, there is Aston Villa who are certainly favorites for the final success, with Emery on the bench who in his personal roll of honor has four Europa Leagues, one cup winner. Then Bruges, Fenerbahçe, Lille, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Paok and Viktoria Plzeň. All opponents to worry about, in case, from the quarter-finals.

finalist

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The Conference, the latest addition to the European cups, is in the third year of its recent history. In 2022 Roma won the first edition by beating Feyenoord at the end (1-0). Last season it was Fiorentina who reached the final, unfortunately beaten, one might say, by West Ham (now in the Europa League) in the final. The dream is to repeat itself.