Fiorentina Coach Paulo Sousa felt timing was crucial, as a penalty on the stroke of half-time “gave Borussia Monchengladbach hope when they were losing it.”

The Viola had been 3-0 up on aggregate with 47 minutes of the tie left, but incredibly collapsed to a Lars Stindl hat-trick and Andreas Christensen header, losing 4-2 on the night, 4-3 on aggregate.

Fiorentina Coach Paulo Sousa felt timing was crucial, as a penalty on the stroke of half-time “gave Borussia Monchengladbach hope when they were losing it.”

The Viola had been 3-0 up on aggregate with 47 minutes of the tie left, but incredibly collapsed to a Lars Stindl hat-trick and Andreas Christensen header, losing 4-2 on the night, 4-3 on aggregate.

“The penalty opened up the tie, as we had gone 2-0 up, gained confidence, had more chances and continued to press,” Sousa told Sky Sport Italia.

“When you have the game in hand, even a wrong transition can lead to a penalty and that gave Borussia hope when they were losing it.

“They are very good on set plays, but with a bit more concentration we could’ve avoided those goals. You can see they push well, have a lot of quality, bring players up between the lines and have good passing.

“Football is this, there are many results, including defeat. In difficult moments we have to lift our heads, accept our share of the responsibility, try to honour the jersey as well as possible.

“We know it’s not an easy moment, but we have to give our best with honesty and hard work to overcome the difficulties.

“All defeats compromise our objectives, which are to win every single game – that is what I work for and the mentality I try to promote in my squad. That’s why I make these decisions on the tactics, line-ups and dynamics.

“We try to improve some of the less mature players, who might be a little less concentrated, and it’s true we are naïve in some situations. I told the lads again today I was really disappointed for them, as they give their heart and soul to do well, but tiny incidents can compromise a season.”

Fiorentina seemed to sit back and invite Borussia Monchengladbach forward throughout the two legs.

“We tried to play direct and press them to win the ball back, as they have this intensity and when we sit deep, we suffer more. The individual intensity of our game tends to drop when we’re deep and so this season we decided to press higher, but it doesn’t always work and today we didn’t manage it.”

Sousa was jeered by fans when he decided to substitute star man Federico Bernardeschi for Josip Ilicic.

“Bernardeschi is having these drops in intensity. He is a decisive player when he takes men on, as he attacks the space, can shoot, dribble or pass, but I made a decision to seek more intensity and shake up what Borussia had prepared against us.”

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