Fiorentina must take chances – Sousa

Fiorentina head coach Paulo Sousa has warned his players they cannot afford to miss chances in their return game against Lech Poznan if they are to salvage their Europa League hopes.

The Serie A side suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat against the Polish outfit on October 22 and know they must avenge that result in the away game against the same opponents on Thursday if they are to stay in with a realistic chance of progression.

An excellent start to the season has Fiorentina sitting top of Serie A after 11 games, but they are bottom of Group I having recorded three points from as many games on the continent.

Sousa identified poor finishing as his side’s key fault in their last European loss and urged them to avoid a repeat in Poland.

“A change of management gave them a boost and that was not surprising,” said Sousa, with Jan Urban having replaced Maciej Skorza at the Lech helm last month.

“At times we have had less intensity and also luck – for example against Basel – but with Lech we dominated the match without scoring. 

“I am sure we will see more chances converted as of Thursday. We have the quality and the belief to do that. We must improve our decision-making on the field.

“Lech defended well last time, but they will have to play better than they did at the Stadio Franchi because we dominated without taking all the chances we created.”

Sousa admitted the previous defeat to to Urban’s side has made qualification for the knockout rounds a difficult task.

He continued: “This [poor finishing] has caused us some problems in terms of qualification, but we are trying to work on this. 

“I want a side that is intense from the first minute, creating many scoring opportunities, but this time converting more of them into goals.”