West Ham United’s Europa Conference League final opponents Fiorentina concluded their Serie A campaign on Friday night with a 3-1 win over Sassuolo.
The Viola had taken the lead through Arthur Cabral seconds into the second half, only to be cancelled out inside the final 20 minutes via a Domenico Berardi penalty. However, late goals from substitutes Riccardo Saponara and Nicolas Gonzalez sealed three points against a Sassuolo side who ended the game with nine men thanks to red cards for Ruan Tressoldi and Rogerio.
Three points for Vincenzo Italiano’s side means they are currently in eighth and are guaranteed to finish in that spot after Torino lost their final game of the season on Saturday against Inter Milan.
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Officially, Italy are given European qualification spots for the top seven finishers in the league. However, football.london understands that Juventus, currently sat in seventh, are likely to be expelled from Europe this season, meaning if the spot is reallocated, eighth may get Europe.
West Ham enter Wednesday’s Europa Conference League final at the Fortuna Arena in Prague having gone ten days without a match, while Fiorentina will have had just a five-day rest.
Because of that, Viola boss Italiano opted to make eight changes to face Sassuolo from the side that came from behind to beat Roma 2-1 in the league six days earlier. Only goalkeeper Michele Cerofolini, centre-back Lucas Martinez Quarta and winger Jonathan Ikone started both wins over Roma and Fiorentina.
Italiano has been no stranger to rotation in recent games. In Fiorentina’s last three matches against Inter Milan (Coppa Italia final), Roma and Sassuolo, Italiano has started 23 different players.
That total is the same number that West Ham have in senior players, a number which includes third-choice goalkeeper Joseph Anang, who is yet to make his senior debut, and striker Gianluca Scamacca, who has missed over two months of action through injury.
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