Crotone coach Walter Zenga admits he has struggled to prepare for his side's trip to Fiorentina this Saturday in the wake of David Astori's tragic death.
Fiorentina have won back-to-back Serie A fixtures since captain Astori passed away earlier this month and Zenga said: "Usually I watch the three or four previous games of our next opponents to give me an idea of how to play against them, but I with Fiorentina, I didn't do it, I have to be honest.
"I couldn't bring myself to watch the games with Davide Astori playing in them -- it pained me in view of what happened."
The Viola have responded well to the tragedy and Zenga has praise opposite number Stefano Pioli.
"On Monday, in Coverciano, I spoke to Pioli and paid him my compliments for the way they have responded and for how they have united," Zenga said. "They are a very aggressive side and play a nice football."
Of his own side's chances of staying up, Zenga said: "Crotone will avoid relegation and this is the most important thing -- they know how dedicated to my work I am. We knew we were going to have to fight to the very end and nothing has changed, but we're focusing on ourselves and aiming to play our aggressive style of football regardless of our opponents.
"We have 10 points more than we had last year, but we're in the same place in the table which says a lot about how all the other sides are playing."
Crotone are inside the bottom three heading into Saturday's clash, with one point separating them from safety with 10 games of the season remaining.
