The New Saints can leave the Stadio Artemio Franchi with their heads held high on Thursday night after holding Fiorentina for more than an hour on their history-making night in the UEFA Conference League.
The first club from the Welsh domestic game to reach this stage of European competition, the Saints earned nothing but huge respect with an excellent collective team performance that defied external expectation despite the eventual 2-0 defeat.
Head coach Craig Harrison highlighted before the match that excitement was the overriding emotion for his team, but while the odds were stacked against them, from the first whistle his side were composed and disciplined in defence while also being assured and confident in their brief periods of possession.
Fiorentina Head Coach Raffaele Palladino made no less than ten changes to the starting line-up that drew 0-0 with Empoli in Serie A last weekend with only striker Christian Kouamé retaining his place.
By comparison, The New Saints made two changes from the team that eased past Newtown last weekend with Ben Clark and Adam Wilson added to the starting line-up, with Sion Bradley rewarded for his domestic form with his first European start.
There was almost a dream start for the Saints as Adam Wilson and Rory Holden combined inside the Fiorentina area in the opening minute but they failed to create a clear chance on goal. From there on the home side dominated for long periods, but the Saints remained organised and committed to their defensive responsibilities which frustrated the home side.
Harrison set his side up to restrict space in the middle of the field with a deep 5-3-2 formation to force Fiorentina wide when they had the ball. The Saints were clearly well-drilled against their illustrious opponents, but this was far from a negative approach and they able to get forward and ask questions of their own on their limited number of counter-attacks.
Goalkeeper Connor Roberts had to be alert to deny Kouamé and Lucas Beltrán while Fabiano Parisi and Cristiano Biraghi were restricted to long-range efforts that sailed high and wide.
The best chance for Fiorentina in the opening half came on 43 minutes when the influential Rolando Mandragora struck the post, while Roberts then denied Riccardo Sottil with a good save after a period of intense pressure from the home side before the half-time whistle.
In recognition of how well The New Saints had performed, Fiorentina made a triple change on 58 minutes to strengthen their attacking options. Within minutes they were two goals ahead as Yacine Adli and Moise Kean finally found a way through the Saints defence.
It was a cruel blow, but Fiorentina continued to show their superiority in the final exchanges, and should have increased their advantage before the final whistle.
The European journey is far from over for The New Saints and they will now play another five UEFA Conference League fixtures before the final league placings are decided.
The confidence they can take from what was their toughest tie will give them every hope of securing points in this already memorable campaign, with this performance earning its own place in their already proud European history.
“I’m very proud,” Craig Harrison told Sgorio after the game. “We didn’t want to come here and get beat, but a lot of bigger clubs than us have come here and got beat by heavier amounts. I’m proud of everyone involved for getting us to where we are, and we really gave a good account of ourselves tonight.”
Captain Danny Redmond added: “We’re a bit disappointed. We worked very hard all game and to concede two goals so close together, it was a bit scrappy. But I’m very proud of the lads, it was a massive shift and it just shows our togetherness as a team. We can take a lot from that.”