Paulo Sousa has insisted that his Fiorentina side "deserved" to beat Tottenham Hotspur in Florence this evening.

The encounter ended in a 1-1 draw, which has made Spurs the favourites to progress through to the last 16 of the Europa League ahead of next week's return meeting at White Hart Lane.

However, the Fiorentina boss has claimed that his team's display was worthy of a victory.

"It was a performance that got better as time went on in terms of intensity and quality. At the end we didn't get the result we wanted, as we would've deserved victory," he told Sky Sport Italia.

"Fiorentina proved once again that we have the desire to compete at these levels. The English football culture is one of great intensity and I am proud my lads managed to match them in that sense.

"We'll see in the return leg if we can make the whole city and country proud of us too. It's important to give a certain image of our football abroad."

Fiorentina have won on two of their four previous trips to England.