Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella has taken the time to praise Juventus trainer Antonio Conte ahead of this weekend's Serie A encounter.

The former Siena boss guided the Bianconeri to the Serie A title and the Coppa Italia final last season, and the 38-year-old believes he is arguably the most successful coach in Italy's top tier.

"Conte has created an important mentality at Juventus and that’s not easily done," he was quoted as saying on the Juventus website.

"In the last two years he’s shown himself to be the championship’s most successful boss."

Montella then went on to underline the importance of Saturday's match against Juventus.

"Let’s not forget that this is an important game of football for all of us. We’ll need to display all our quality on the pitch because Juventus are very strong."

Vincenzo Montella held up his hands after Fiorentina’s 2-0 defeat in Turin. “Juventus proved they are superior.”

It was a good first half from both teams, but the Viola barely made a dent after the break.

“Today Juventus proved they are superior,” shrugged the Coach. “That doesn’t mean that Fiorentina didn’t try to challenge, as Juve scored and controlled the game like the great team they are.

“We are in the middle of a growth process and that also means experiencing lessons like this. We always play with our characteristics, as if you put 10 men behind the ball then you’re going to lose anyway.

“Tonight Juve made it difficult for us to construct our moves, which hadn’t happened to us often. It will be good experience for the next games.”