A look at how our opponents in Prague, ACF Fiorentina, navigated their path to the final...

A total of 177 teams from 54 of UEFA’s 55 member associations took part in the 2022/23 UEFA Conference League (UECL).

Of them, 134 have competed only in this tournament, while another 43 dropped into the competition at various points along the way.

Thirty were eliminated in the first qualifying round, 55 more in the second and 32 in the third. With 22 more being knocked out in the play-off round, that left 32 to contest the group stage.

Sixteen of them were eliminated after six match rounds, leaving 16 winners and runners-up, who were then joined by eight more who dropped down from the UEFA Europa League.

Eight were eliminated in the preliminary knockout round, leaving 16, who have since been whittled down to the Hammers and La Viola.

Here is the story of how the Italian side took their place in the final at the Eden Arena in Prague on 7 June.

After finishing seventh in Italy’s Serie A last season, Fiorentina snuck past FC Twente of the Netherlands 2-1 on aggregate in the play-off round courtesy of first-leg goals from Nicolás González and Cabral – two players who have played big roles in La Viola’s run to the semi-finals.

Fiorentina’s Group A campaign started in unspectacular style with a 1-1 home draw with RFS of Latvia and a 3-0 defeat by İstanbul Başakşehir in Turkey.

Back-to-back victories over Heart of Midlothian of Scotland on matchdays three and four got the Italians’ campaign back on track and they rounded out the group stage with two more wins to finish as runners-up to İstanbul Başakşehir.

That momentum has continued into the knockout phase, with Cabral scoring home and away in a 7-2 aggregate win over Braga of Portugal in the knockout round play-offs.

Vincenzo Italiano’s side then dismissed Sivasspor of Turkey 5-1 on aggregate in the round of 16. Cabral scored in the second leg of that tie, as well as the opener in the 4-1 quarter-final first-leg win over Lech Poznań in Poland.

Lech threatened a spectacular comeback a the Stadio Artemio Franchi, but late goals from Riccardo Sottil and Gaetano Castrovilli ended the Poles’ hopes and sent the 1961 European Cup Winners’ Cup winners through.

On to the semi-finals, where Swiss side FC Basel laid in wait.

It proved to be another titanic tussle, as Italiano's side suffered a 2-1 first leg defeat at home to give themselves a mountain to climb.

Everything appeared to be going to the script when Cabral headed the home side in front with 25 minutes played, but goals by Andy Diouf and Zeki Amdouni in the final 19 minutes had the Swiss dreaming of Prague.

Back to St Jakob-Park and it proved to be another truly dramatic evening. A see-saw second leg first swung Fiorentina's way when González nodded home, but Amdouni's second goal of the tie, ten minutes after the break, restored Basel's aggregate lead.

There was still time for a final twist, as González's notched another to force extra-time, before substitute Antonin Bárak grabbed the winner nine minutes into stoppage time, with penalties imminent.

4-3 on aggregate to La Viola and it could not have been any more dramatic.