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Ilicic: ‘Inter don’t deserve Serie A golry’
“We can win the title, we proved it already, although it will be hard”, the 27-year-old revealed.
“Sooner or later we’ll pass through difficult times and we’ll have to see how we’ll overcame it. Our manager Paulo Sousa has already won three titles, but his clubs had to survive crisis periods every time.”
Fiorentina were not expected to be among the Scudetto pretenders at the beginning of the season, while their current rivals Roma, Inter and Napoli have been considered credible title winners since the very beginning of this campaign.
“I think Roma are the favorites. They have quality and they play very well. Inter are very strong too, especially in defense, but they have been lucky thus far and I think they don't deserve to win the title. I also spoke about it with Samir Handanovic (his compatriot) too.
Ilicic was also asked to comment on some of his teammates, such as Fiorentina’s current top-scorer Nikola Kalinic.
“Nikola shouldn’t have joined a Premier League side (he played from 2009 until 2011 with Blackburn Rovers). He is tall but not too strong physically, he could have wasted his career with that decision. He is not as strong as Higuain because he can’t win games on his own but he can help us winning the title because he works like a crazy.”
Talking about Fiorentina’s next rivals Empoli, the former Palermo star revealed that he appreciates the Tuscan’s playing style as they are not the classic relegation candidates that only think about defending.
“I scored a brace in the last meeting against Empoli and their goalkeeper was Luig Sepe, who joined us last summer. He told me that my shot were savable, but I don’t think so. Not even Superman would have done it. I like Empoli, they play very well, even if they are not a big team. I don’t tolerate teams that defend with 10 men behind the ball.”
