Fiorentina director of sport Daniele Prade paid tribute to goalscorer Franck Ribery after defeat to Lazio.

Ribery gave the Viola the lead before a Ciro Immobile penalty and Luis Alberto strike won the game for Lazio.

On Ribery, Prade said: “He is a champion in every area, who helps the younger players around him to grow and mature. We're in a difficult situation and it's disappointing.

“We knew this was a year of reconstruction, that we'll have ambition in the future, but right now we have to focus on the current campaign. Emerging from here with a point would've been important, but it was decided by dubious incidents that lost us the game. There's no beating around the bush."

On the penalty, he added: “(Felipe) Caicedo was smart, but he was already going down before (Bartlomiej) Dragowski even got there. Bitter, that's what we feel. Bitter. Bitter. Who can sleep after that? We had a great game, we hit the woodwork, Strakosha made an incredible save and then we lost.

“It's disappointing to see incidents like that proved so decisive for the result. Disappointing. As a director, as a man in football for many years, you should at least use VAR and look at them again."