By Paul Jones
Craig Harrison was proud of his players after The New Saints put up impressive resistance before falling to a 2-0 defeat against Fiorentina on a historic night in Italy.
TNS are the first Welsh League club to progress past the qualifying rounds of a Uefa competition, and their first Conference League group match threw up a daunting trip to Florence.
Second half goals from Yacine Adli and Moise Kean mean it's defeat for The New Saints in Florence.
A valiant effort from the Welsh Champions 👏🏻🏴
@acffiorentina 2-0 @tnsfc | #UECL— Sgorio ⚽️ (@sgorio) October 3, 2024
Fiorentina were runners-up for the past two seasons but it took them 65 minutes to find a way through the TNS defence, with Yacine Adli netting before a quick second from the former Everton striker Moise Kean meant it finished 2-0.
“I am proud of everyone involved for getting us to where we are, and we really gave a good account of ourselves tonight,” said Saints manager Harrison.
“It should give us a lot of confidence. We can certainly defend away from home.
“We want to improve, we want to help up the standards, to bring a lot of people who don’t want to – whether it is ignorance, lack of time or being obsessed with other leagues – that the Cymru Premier is a league worth coming to watch.”
"Perfformiad y gall Y Seintiau Newydd fod yn falch iawn ohono."
Full time scenes as The New Saints fall to defeat against Fiorentina. pic.twitter.com/ZHUeorxe56
— Sgorio ⚽️ (@sgorio) October 3, 2024
Saints captain Danny Redmond added: “We gave it a right good go, we’ve got to take a lot from that.”
Connor Roberts would have expected to be a busy man in the TNS net and he produced a fine fingertip save to deny Christian Kouamé in the 10th minute.
Roberts then kept out a Lucas Beltrán shot at the near post and the visitors were grateful to the woodwork before half-time when Rolando Mandragora’s effort struck a post.
Fiorentina dominated possession and Roberts was finally beaten 20 minutes into the second half, with Adli benefiting from a kind ricochet on the edge of the box after a run down the left from Jonathan Ikoné before finding the bottom corner.
FT Fiorentina 2 The New Saints 0
Raffaele Palladino’s hand was forced into a triple-change before the 60-minute mark to breakdown Saints resilient defence on a historic night for the Welsh champions. Quick-fire second half goals from the Italians effectively put the contest to… pic.twitter.com/7vwEjOOYer— Matthew Burgess (@1matthewburgess) October 3, 2024
The game was put beyond TNS four minutes later and again there was a touch of fortune as Matías Moreno’s strike took a big deflection and landed at the feet of Kean, who tapped in at the second attempt after Roberts had initially denied him.
TNS’s only real scoring chance came in the 75th minute when Declan McManus almost turned in Joshua Daniels’s ball into the box, while at the other end Roberts kept the deficit to two with further saves from Kean and Amir Richardson.
The Cymru Premier side’s next European outing comes at home later this month against Astana.
Eroi provenienti dal Galles allo stadio Franchi di Firenze per la prima gara di #ConferenceLeague nel nuovo girone unico. In campo #Fiorentina e The New Saints. #Fiorentina #FiorentinaSaints pic.twitter.com/ElMcu6hxUB
— Matteo Dovellini (@MatteoDovellini) October 3, 2024