The words of the Rossoneri coach on the eve of the match against Bologna: “Leao is not in difficulty. Maignan’s situation? It’s time to act firmly.”
THE FULL PRESS CONFERENCE:
Milan-Bologna will be played a year after Mihajlovic’s passing and a few days after Riva’s passing…
“It’s impossible not to remember Sinisa: he is missed by the entire environment, just like the person of another era like Gigi Riva will be missed.”
Does your team need the spirit of Sinner (who just beat Djokovic in Australia Open semi-finals)?
“I watched the match because I went to bed early and woke up early. Sinner did something incredible, beating the number one as he did in a Grand Slam, with this strength, mentality, with sacrifice and work… I hope that we, too, in these years have shown that we can work in that way. I believe we have demonstrated similarities to Jannik, even though he is now at the top of the world, and we still have to get there.”
From the outside, it seems that the tide has turned in favor of Pioli:
“I believe that the team is going through a good moment and is in good mental shape. We are mentally well because we have won some games. We need to think only about tomorrow’s match; our future must be tomorrow’s match. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult match; Bologna plays excellent football. We have prepared to put on a performance worthy of our qualities.”
Is Leao struggling?
“This story has been going on for too long, and I don’t think it’s true. If we have scored much more than last year and are the second-best attack in the league. He is a reference point for us and for opposing defenses. He offers us many solutions, serves great balls. He is one of the players in Serie A who provides the most assists. I love Rafa for who he is; he is a footnall artist, and all artists are geniuses, and he is a genius.”
On the events in Udine last week:
“Congratulations to Udinese for how they behaved. There must be certainty of punishment for those who do certain things. Everything that has been done to accomodate Mike, even by our club. I found Mike calm, strong, proud of the support received from around the world.”
Do you need to improve defensively?
“We must continue with our style of play, which is to defend by managing the game better; we must force fewer mistakes. We always seek the winning move even when it’s not there. I believe we will never be a team so solid without the ball, but we can be with the ball.”
Inzaghi and Allegri put Milan in the title race…
“They are all very polite, but at the moment, we are not in that race. We are in our own race, thinking about winning games to improve the first half of the season.”
Giroud said that during the difficult times, he spoke to you. Do you think ‘the storm’ has passed or not?
“No, because we live on results. I know very well how these situations go. We are committed to thinking about getting a result in tomorrow’s match. In a season, there are ups and downs; very few teams in the world can afford drops in performance and condition. We are very attentive and focused on tomorrow and trying to win the match.”
Klopp will leave Liverpool… Is there a time frame for a coach at a club?
“Hard to say; I would like to experience this situation. To reach 9, 10, 11 years at a club and then say, ‘Maybe it’s time to change places.’ Of course, it is a very intense and demanding job. Nine years are really a lot; Guardiola is doing the same. Ferguson did even more… Each of us must live according to our emotions and motivations and then decide based on what we feel.”
Does it help not to have cup games now?
“We must think that we can be competitive in two competitions because that is our goal, going all the way in the Europa League while keeping the level high in the league. Although there are many examples in Italy of teams that have progressed in the Europa League and then struggled in the league… We want to be an exception even in this.”
Bologna is one of the revelations of the season… What do you think of Zirkzee?
“He is a young guy I followed in the past at Bayern before going to Parma. Now he is much more complete, more into the game, with greater technical quality. It will be essential to consider him from our defensive phase.”
With a win tomorrow, Milan would be on par with the points of the Scudetto year…
“It would be very significant.”
