According to reports in Italy it appears that our Vice President Mario Cognigni has said that we can only spend upto €5 million during the winter transfer window.

This would be a big disappointment because I am sure it was earlier said that we had a budget of atleast €15 million. And also because our participation in this season's Champions League has already generated us more than €25 million and we have even managed to qualify for the round of sixteen.

We need to make a few signings to plug a few holes in the team if we are to compete for a top four place, something that is slowly becoming a concern following four defeats in the last six matches. While I am confident we will be able to bounce back as we did last season, the added distraction of the Champions League could come back to haunt...

This was a game where in anything other than a defeat would have been a "bonus" for us. So the defeat does not pinch me much, even though we came pretty close to coming out of the game with a point.

Inter's defeat to Barcelona coupled with Fiorentina beating Lyon had got some people to believe that we would be able to beat the Nerazzuri. However Jose's boys are just something else in the Serie A, and in many ways that 1-0 scoreline does look flattering for us. Had it not been for Sebastian Frey (again) and some poor finishing from Inter's players, especially Sulley Muntari, then we could have suffered a...

Less than nine hours till our big game against the champions at the San Siro, so in the meantime, I have come up with some head to head stats between the two teams.

I am certain that if we had skipped this past week then the build up to this game would be on the lines of how Fiorentina were going to cope up with an Inter Milan side that has only lost one game this season, and have already built up a five point gap at the top of the standings and a massive 11 points ahead of us.

But then what happened in midweek is that Inter were bullied by Barcelona at the Camp Nou, and their qualification to the next round now depends on the last game against Rubin Kazan of Russia. We on the other hand became the first Italian side to seal our place in the round of sixteen with a nervy but deserved 1-0 victory...

The club still appears to be rejoicing its progression in Europe's premier club competition as Corriere Fiorentino reported that there was gala dinner held at the Pantarei restaurant, which is apparently a big favourite amongst the players and staff. The article goes on to mention that despite the extremely long speeches from our two center backs, Per Kroldrup and Cesare Natali (God, can't they do atleast one thing well?), everyone had a nice time.

Cesare Prandelli (who was visiting his wive's grave in Orzinuovi), Sebastian Frey, Adrian Mutu and Alessandro Gamberini were not presen...

Just realised I never really described how we scored our goal in my post game analysis. That's mainly because I have shifted from doing match reports to match analysis from our point of view. It makes more sense as this is after all a fan blog. But this post is dedicated to the goal that took us through to the round of sixteen of the Champions League. Relive it right here on Fleur-de-lis Viola.

The penalty was ofcourse won by Marco Marchionni who had cut in from the right and was subsequently brought down by Lyon full back Aly Cissokho much to the annoyance of their center back Cris who believed he had the situation covered. The referee blew his whistle and Vargas duly converted from the spot by smashing the ball into the top left corner. The rest ofcourse is history.

Fiorentina are back in the knock out stages of the Champions League after ten years thanks to Juan Vargas penalty in the first half.

Ten long years during which we went from being bankrupt to going out of existence, to reforming under the Della Valles, fighting our way back to the top flight, again suffering the brunt of the Calciopoli, defying the odds to finish in the top four in consecutive seasons, and now we are one of the top sixteen teams in Europe. I don't know about the rest of you, but for me this is as good as winning the god-damn trophy.

Some might say we were a bit lucky last night and that maybe Lyon deserved a draw. I totally disagree because I thought we had more than enough chances in the...

Its just a matter of hours now till kickoff at the Artemio Franchi where 35,000 Gigliati supporters are expected to voicing their support for the Men in Purple. So in the meantime I thought I would look ahead to some of the personal match-ups that we could see in tonight's game, and use that to gauge the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two sides.

Match up 1: Alberto Gilardino vs Cris

Lyon's towering center back is rightly named "The Policeman" for his commanding presence on the pitch. He has both physical strength and pace which makes it very difficult for opposition players to get the better of him. An example of that was during the reverse fixture at the Stade Gerland where he along with Jeremy Toulalan were rock solid in defence throughout the ninety minutes there by reducing...

We go into tomorrow's crucial Champions League game against Lyon with the aim of winning as by doing so we'll be guaranteed a spot in the first knockout round. However should the situation arise that we end up level on points with Liverpool then there a number of factors that determine which team joins Lyon in the last sixteen. Lets have a look.

At the moment we hold a five point lead over the Scousers (9 against 4). So for them beating Debreceni is a must if they are to keep their hopes of progressing alive. If we win tomorrow then their result does not matter because we will at the very least hold that five point advantage which will become unassailable for them. If we lose however and they win then they can knock us out with victory in the final game at...

We go into tonight's game at the Artemio Franchi looking for the win that would guarantee us a place in the last sixteen. Anything less than three points could bring in down to the final game at Anfield, something I am not very keen on.

Our opponents, Olympique Lyonnais, have already made it through to the next round with three wins (including that 1-0 result against us at the Stade Gerland) and a draw which sees them top of the table with ten points, one ahead of us. Some may expect them to relax just a bit with qualification already guaranteed, but I doubt they will do that tonight especially since they can clinch top spot the group with a win.

So it comes down to us and our intent in getting the result. Our fate still lies...