MAINZ, GERMANY – NOVEMBER 6: Fiorentina interim head coach Daniele Garoppa arrives at the stadium before the match between 1.FSV Mainz 05 and ACF Fiorentina of the UEFA Conference League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 on November 6, 2025 in Mainz, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
Fiorentina caretaker manager Daniele Garoppa admitted that losing 2-1 to Mainz in the Conference League after fumbled a lead “will weigh heavily on us because the basis was a positive result.”
The Primavera youth team coach has been promoted to manager for this trip to Germany after Stefano Pioli was sacked on Tuesday.
The experience in Mainz started strong, as Simon Sohm gave the Viola an early lead in hopes of maintaining their perfect conference league record.
However, Benedikt Hollerbach and substitute Lee Jae-sung made a comeback and Mainz won 2-1, so the substitute played a decisive role.
Garoppa oversees another Fiorentina setback
“Unfortunately, this will weigh on us, because it was fundamental to bring home a good result,” Garoppa confessed on Sky Sports Italia.
“The players should have been more mature and marked better inside the penalty area. I think we should have led 2-0 by that stage instead of losing 2-1.”
Moise Kean did indeed put the ball in the net, but he was flagged for offside just in time and the striker also missed a sitter.
“The players want to react. It’s natural for them to be disappointed. It was frankly difficult to ask for more from them after just two days. They have tried and created, even though they made a lot of mistakes on a purely technical level. They want to turn this situation around.”
Roberto Piccoli had also missed several big scoring chances before being replaced by Keane and looked nervous when he cleared the ball.
“Roberto is working hard. He has been stopping after practice and practicing finishing. I don’t think he is afraid, but it will be important for his confidence to score,” Galloppa insisted.
“We all have to roll up our sleeves and come out of this difficult moment. We saw some positive things in the first hour. The feeling is that when we lost intensity and started to suffer physically, we also lost something mentally. We didn’t have the concentration to feel the danger of those goals.”
Garoppa says he would have made bigger tactical changes had he had more time, but how does he think Fiorentina should play?
“Given the characteristics of these players, I think they could play with two centre-forwards or two support strikers behind one forward.
“They perform better with three in midfield and can sustain the tempo better.”
Paolo Vanoli is currently the frontrunner, but a new manager has yet to be named ahead of this weekend’s relegation battle with Genoa.
Curiously, this game will be the debut of new Gryphons manager Daniele De Rossi, who replaced Patrick Vieira who was sacked today.
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