Fiorentina vs Crystal Palace: Preview

“Do I have to?” | Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images

Having quite possibly secured salvation with a surprising 1-0 win over Lazio on Monday, Fiorentina goes from nervous celebration to grudging acceptance of an ignominious fate with the second leg of the Conference League quarterfinal. Crystal Palace absolutely smacked the Viola around last week en route to a 3-0 win that demonstrated an unbridgeable divide in quality between these teams and will show up here with the job about 90% finished. The Viola can play for pride, sure, but will be much more interested in Monday’s clash at Lecce; a win there would all but guarantee another Serie A season, leaving this quarterfinal as a mere distraction.

The match will be played on Thursday, 16 April 2026, at 20:00 GMT/3:00 PM EST at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in beautiful Firenze. The forecast, at least, calls for a truly glorious day, sunny and warm, perfect for sitting in the remains of the Curva Maratona and watching the sun go down over the Fiesole hills. I haven’t found anyone reporting the number of Palace fans making the trip but I expect it’ll be a large contingent, given that they’ll have a lovely Tuscan holiday and also get to watch a walkover. Hopefully, their local counterparts will still show up rather than ignoring this final, vestigial European tilt.

Three things to watch for

1. Is this a Primavera game?

Fiorentina’s list of absences is shrinking, perhaps, but remains lengthy. Moise Kean, Fabiano Parisi, Marco Brescianini, and Niccolò Fortini are all dinged up and might not be worth risking in this game. Manor Solomon and Rolando Mandragora are at less than 100% despite playing against Lazio on Monday. Dodô is suspended for this one after his yellow card last week. Tariq Lamptey remains a citizen of Ghost World rather than a real Fiorentina player.

With so many absences, Paolo Vanoli could throw in the towel here and trot out the Primavera. Guys like Cher Ndour, Robin Gosens, and Roberto Piccoli could use a little time off. Fans are clamoring to get youngsters like Luis Balbo, Riccardo Braschi, and Eddy Kouadio first team minutes and this could be the perfect opportunity. The result doesn’t matter because the Conference League doesn’t matter. Why not turn the kids loose and save everyone’s legs for Lecce?

I’ll give you three reasons. The first is that Vanoli doesn’t seem like the sort of mister who’ll let his players have days off like that. He’s spent all year hacking away at the pathetic attitude this side developed under Stefano Pioli and giving up on any game, no matter how meaningless, is against his principles. He might rotate a bit but he won’t throw in the towel because that would allow the same mental laxity to creep back in. If this game doesn’t matter, how many others will also not matter? I’m normally not a believer in slippery slope arguments but I believe in here.

Second, it’s not fair to the youngsters. Getting shooed onto the pitch against a Premier League side that will be playing with confidence will probably end up in a ridiculous scoreline. The teenagers would get mocked on social media and feel awful in a way that could set back back their long-term development, which is the last thing Fiorentina needs. With no Europe next year, prioritizing youth development is a priority and some of these kids will have a role to play in 2026-2027.

Finally, the Primavera’s flying right now. Despite a 1-3 loss to Sassuolo on Saturday—they finished with 9 so it barely counts—they’re in 3rd place and are just 2 points off capolista Cesena (!) with 5 games to play. Daniele Galoppa’s continues to do a fantastic job with the kids and they deserve a chance to win something. They’ve also got Juventus looming on Saturday; tiring out some key players’ legs in a meaningless beatdown is pointless. No, while I expect Vanoli to pick some of the cool teens for the bench, he won’t risk all that much rotation.

2. Who plays on the right?

With Dodô suspended, Fortini doubtful, and Lamptey perma-hurt, there aren’t any rightbacks on the roster. This could be a chance for Kouadio but Vanoli’s mostly ignored him. My guess is that we’ll see Pietro Comuzzo drafted into an awkward spot mostly because he can match up physically with Evan Guessand and Ismäila Sarr, particularly in the air; Palace obviously targeted Dodô with high balls and Comuzzo would alleviate that weakness, although I imagine that the Guessand and Sarr would both fancy their chances against him in space.

This could be the sort of situation that tempts Vanoli to try a back 3 again, mostly to help match up with the Eagles’ similar shape. Adding some extra beef to deal with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jørgen Strand Larsen makes sense. However, 3-4-3 vs 3-4-3 usually descends into a kludgy mess that favors the team with more talent. That’s obviously Crystal Palace (see: the first leg). The talent disparity, of course, renders any tactical tweaks the equivalent of pissing in the ocean but I’d rather see Fiorentina stick to its principles, treat this as a training exercise, and get smoked than try a one-off tactic and get smoked.

3. How seriously Palace takes this

The main reason Palace blew Fiorentina to smithereens in the first leg is the aforementioned talent disparity. The largest secondary factor, though, was the rest disparity: the Eagles had 3 weeks to get healthy and plan for this while the Viola had 3 days. Oliver Glasner and company don’t have that advantage this week. They crushed Newcastle on Sunday and get West Ham on Monday. Combine those fixtures with the long flight to the Amerigo Vespucci airport and you have a recipe for a let-off.

Glasner may decide that this one’s pretty well wrapped up and give some of his stars a night off. Palace’s backups have the talent to put Fiorentina to the sword about as efficiently as the starters and this could be a good chance to get some of the less-used players minutes in Europe, minutes that will stand them in good stead in the semifinals and beyond. I don’t think Palace will trot out a youth side but I’m expecting some rotation and a greater focus on controlling possession for 90 minutes rather than bombing forward.

Possible lineups

Fiorentina (4-3-3): Christensen; Balbo, Ranieri, Pongračić, Comuzzo; Ndour, Fagioli, Mandragora; Guðmundsson, Piccoli, Harrison ||| Crystal Palace (3-4-3): Henderson; Canvot, Lacroix, Richards; Sosa, Kamada, Wharton, Johnson; Pino, Larsen, Sarr

Ted’s Memorial Blind Guess Department

The bookies lean towards the visitors but not by nearly as much as I think they should. Sure, there’s the possibility that Glasner unfurls a “Mission Accomplished” banner with his XI but Vanoli could do something similar. At that point, it’s down to who cares more and my money’s on the Palace: the players will take this opportunity to prove that they deserve bigger roles in their biggest European games of the season, while their Fiorentina counterparts will probably be satisfied with getting out of Dodge and staying fit for Monday’s crucial match at Lecce. Every indicator, logical and otherwise, points towards an away win.

Because I’m nothing if not committed to the bit, though, I’ll call it a 2-1 win for the Viola. Even in my wildest dreams, I can’t imagine this being anything other than academic so I’ll call Larsen opening the scoring early to push the aggregate lead to 4-0 and put the tie out of reach, with Fiorentina pulling a couple late consolation goals back for dignity’s sake; maybe a Giovanni Fabbian header and a Braschi strike? After all, why not? Does feel indicative of how the season’s gone that even my wishcasting leaves Fiorentina losing 4-2 on aggregate, but at least they’d go out with their heads a bit higher. Even though they’ll probably get thumped.

Forza Viola!