Paolo Vanoli spoke to us after Fiorentina beat Rakow 2-1 in the first leg of the Conference League last 16, in which Viola academy product Riccardo Braschi made his senior debut.

Let's start with Braschi's joy at the final whistle today.

“It's a very nice moment. I've always said that young players need to show that desire and that spirit. I always tell academy players that when they join the first team, even just for five minutes, they need to watch and learn and show what they can do, because as I've shown many times in the past I press on regardless of what people think. When you see academy kids breaking into the first team it sends a message to everyone – that dreams can come true. Now he has to understand that he'll have more responsibility when he turns out for the Primavera team. He must keep his feet on the ground because it will be even harder for him to prove himself in the Primavera team now.”

European games are never straightforward. Today you fell behind then quickly found an equalizer and completed the turnaround at the end.

“We kept things tidy in the first half. We did better in attack in the last third of the game but we weren't clinical enough. We need a bit more quality and determination, like with [Jacopo] Fazzini's chance in the first half. We have to be a bit nastier. Then, as seems to be happening to us a lot lately, with our mistake mistake we conceded a goal. We're growing though. 

“We're not through yet and we know how tough it will be at their place with this scoreline but we wanted to win today and the guys did well. 

“However, we must quickly forget about this game now. Tonight we'll get together as a team to start preparing for a very important match against Cremonese.”