Chievo vs Fiorentina preview - School reunion for Corini and Montella

Two former classmates come face to face on Sunday as Chievo and Fiorentina meet at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi.

Chievo boss Eugenio Corini and Fiorentina's Vincenzo Montella both earned their coaching badges on the same course, and their teacher Renzo Ulivieri knew they were both destined for stardom.

"You could see back then that they were both in love with football," he said. "All you had to do was hear them talk to understand their competence and their passion.

"Montella was funny and his contributions were a mixture of knowledge and humour - everybody would be laughing, but having said that, Montella has a good temperament and is well educated.

"What surprised me about him is that, when he was asked to coach Roma, he did not change a bit, neither with me nor with his colleagues.

"Corini, on the other hand, was already a coach when he was a player. Us coaches would do whatever we could to have him in our team. You could rely on him with your eyes shut."

Montella is no stranger to the compliments, but he says he cannot buy much with them.

"It is certainly nice to receive such esteem, but we still have to demonstrate we are worthy of it on the field of play," he said.

"We play to win. A win would mean a lot to us."

Chievo could be without their star striker Sergio Pellissier, who had a minute kidney stone problem recently and has been forced to miss several training sessions.