Stefano Pioli and Luca Ranieri sat down with the media on Wednesday for the traditional pre-match press conference ahead of Thursday's in UEFA Conference League play-of first leg against Polissya.

Here's a selection of their quotes:

PIOLI ON PRE-SEASON PREPARATIONS- “We've been working since July 14 with these matches on the calendar. We've done verything we needed to do to be ready for tomorrow. We've worked on getting our balance right. We know how important this play-off is if we want to play in Europe.”

PIOLI ON THE CONFERENCE LEAGUE - “It's an opportunity for us to show our worth and to be on the European, where all the big teams play. If we want to raise the bar, we must be in Europe. We must be ambitious and move forward one game at a a time, one round at a time. This is the hardest match. We've prepared well for it and we're excited. We want to compete and we're very motivated. It's only right to feel a bit of excitement before such an important game.”

RANIERI ON PLAY-OFF DIFFICULTIES - “In recent years we've always found it hard to reach the group stage. We're fired up and we know important it is for us to be in this competition. We can't wait to get out there and play. We've been training really well.”

RANIERI ON THE DEFENSE - “I say that anyone who plays for Fiorentina is a great player. It's not easy to play at a club like this. I don't know how far we can go but we have a solid defense with great players. Now we have to show it.”