Viola supremo praises Prandelli

Andrea Della Valle paid tribute to Cesare Prandelli after Fiorentina shocked Milan.

Fiorentina president Andrea Della Valle paid tribute to his side, and in particular coach Cesare Prandelli, after they shocked Milan 3-1 in Serie A.

Viola are now equal with their illustrious rivals in the table, five points behind leaders Juventus, after a superb start to the season, and reasserted their growing reputation with a fine win over Carlo Ancelotti's side.

Italian international Luca Toni grabbed a brace to take his tally for the season to a remarkable 15 in 12 games, and Martin Jorgensen also netted to render Alberto Gilardino's strike for the Rossoneri useless.

The victory sent a sign that Fiorentina are a force in Italian football after narrowly avoiding relegation last term and Della Valle was beaming in his praise for the club's stars - whilst singling out Prandelli for particular credit.

"We played against one of the world's strongest sides and we have been able to win," said Della Valle.

"There is a good spirit, the group is fantastic. We are a good Fiorentina and the heart too is making the difference.

"The merit of everything is of coach Prandelli who has been able to build a big group in only three months.

"Now it's difficult keeping our feet on the floor."

Star man Toni, who has also added to his burgeoning reputation with goals in three games for the Azzurri this term, also expressed his delight and insisted Fiorentina would be looking to continue their fine form against capital club Roma.

"It has been a really fantastic day, we didn't believe to win in this way," said Toni.

"We were facing a really big side, it went in a positive way, we have also had episodes in our favour and we have been able to finalise better the chances we built.

"Now we must go to Rome and make a good match against Giallorossi."

After seeing his Milan side's eight-match winning streak brought to an end, coach Ancelotti was less than magnanimous in his assessment of the defeat.

As well as insisting goalscorer  Gilardino should not have had another effort chalked off for a foul on Marco Di Loreto, Ancelotti declared that Milan did not deserve to lose after dominating proceedings.

"The result is much too heavy for what we did," said Ancelotti. "We complicated the things with a few lapses of attention, then we played in a good way.

"Gilardino's disallowed goal seemed to me absolutely regular, but the referee's assistant, who was too far away, signalled it.

"We have the possibility to revenge ourselves in Istanbul.

"We played in a good way, we have been penalised in the result and in few evaluations, I think we deserve more.

"Who saw the match can say Milan managed the match for the whole time.

"We have had chances and we played quick football."