Milan Badelj praises Coach Paulo Sousa's input and confirms Fiorentina's 'dream' for the Scudetto ahead of the Napoli clash.

The Viola will be fighting to defend the first place this Sunday as they face a daunting Vesuviani side, but Badelj believes their new Coach know how to prepare them.

Milan Badelj praises Coach Paulo Sousa's input and confirms Fiorentina's 'dream' for the Scudetto ahead of the Napoli clash.

The Viola will be fighting to defend the first place this Sunday as they face a daunting Vesuviani side, but Badelj believes their new Coach know how to prepare them.

“From a psychological point of view a lot has changed compared to the past,” he told Il Corriere dello Sport. “But I don't like to compare Coaches, because both Sousa and [Vincenzo] Montella are very good and both of them gave me something.

“Paulo gave me drive. He instilled me with confidence and he pushes me forward. He never contents himself and I like that.

“Borja Valero? He's an uncomparable player. It's possible that his transformation is due to his new position in the pitch, even though I believe that Fiorentina rather found their balance as a team.

“Borja is excellent in finding the right spaces inbetween the lines. That's why I think he can be a useful weapon against Napoli.

“Against the Azzurri it's going to be a good challenge, a phenomenal match, especially in terms of morale.

“Fiorentina are a strong team and they learnt a lot from the errors of their past, for instance last season's game against Napoli.”

The Gigliati are currently first in the standings and alone, something that had not happened for sixteen years.

“It's a dream. We can't allow ourselves to be distracted, because the difficult bit comes now.

“Napoli are one of the three candidates for the Scudetto. Roma is the other candidate, alongside Juventus.

“We're in it too, but for now ours is a dream.”

Finally, the Croatian discussed Italy and international football.

“I want to thank Italy and the winning mentality of a Coach like [Antonio] Conte.

“Now that Croatia are qualified we'll try repeating what we did in the World Cup of 1998, when we came third, or in Euro 2008 when we reached the quarter-finals.

“Italy can go very far. There's no longer a representative player like [Roberto] Baggio was or even [Andrea] Pirlo until a few years ago.

“The Azzurri developed together, and this is all thanks to the Coach.”

Byandrea

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