Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano insists their Europa Conference League semifinal remains alive despite a first-leg home defeat to FC Basel.

The Viola must now go to Switzerland to overturn a 2-1 deficit.

Italiano said, "In my opinion, we played a good game. Teams like Basel can take advantage of their chances. Our main problem was not scoring the second goal when we were dominating the game.

"However, they won the first half and we'll take our chances away. I'm convinced we still have chances.

"We knew that they're dangerous from set-pieces and they punished us twice from those situations. We approached the game well, too bad. They'll defend with low blocks, we will have to avoid the mistake we made today in allowing them to counterattack."

Arthur Cabral scored Viola's goal against his old club.

He said, "We didn't find the second goal, despite playing a great game, especially in the first half. We created a lot, but in order to qualify for the final we have to do better.

"I have so much respect for Basel, that's why I didn't celebrate. It was strange to score against them. But we lost today, I'd have preferred to win without scoring."