Friends of MilanNews.it, welcome to Milanello. He will speak shortly Mister Pioli, which he will present in the conference from the press room of the Rossoneri sports centre Milan-Cagliari of tomorrow. The team will have to be good at putting the last delicate month of the season behind them to return to winning in the championship after more than a month against the Sardinians in a desperate search for safety points. Stay with us to follow all of Mister Stefano Pioli’s statements.
11.00 The press conference has begun
Mister all of us, all the fans really want to see Milan win again after the home match against Genoa. Shall we do it tomorrow?
“It’s like this. It’s what we want too, for many reasons, because the period in which we have gone without a victory is too long. Because I believe that second place is an important objective in any case and is not completely achieved, and therefore. Because we are professionals, out of pride and respect for our club, for our fans and all the motivations that go into this match.”
A couple of curiosities, the first going back a few days: Florenzi’s interview was very nice. Speaking about your work he often said that you seemed to be almost a lightning rod for the team, you took too much criticism, only we who know him well know how much he is suffering in this period. So I ask you, do you want to tell us something more, if you want to make public how you are living, how are you feeling this last period?
“The only thing that would bother me – and nothing bothers me anymore – is if the team didn’t have the right motivation to finish the championship well. This is the only thing that interests me and I’m worried about. How I am doesn’t matter, in the sense that I’m focused on these last matches, then at the end of the championship I’ll meet the club and we’ll decide what our future will be. But I believe that in the figure of the coach, it’s also in my role be a lightning rod, protect the team, protect the club because we all have responsibilities and this has never been a problem for me.”
Is the team ready for this season finale? And then Giroud, Jovic, can you give us some indication, who is better?
“The team is doing well. It’s clear that we are at the end of a long, demanding and complicated season, and there may be those who have a little more energy, those who have a little less, those who are a little better, some a little less, so I will try to choose those players who I believe have the energy, the best possible condition to try to put on a good match, with quality concentration to try to win tomorrow’s match”.
Milan wants to win again, but they are facing a Cagliari that wants important points for survival and perhaps the work done by Ranieri in Cagliari, who managed to revive a team that everyone took for granted, is not underlined enough
“We are talking about a great coach that I was lucky enough to have as a player. I had three teachers: Trapattoni, Bagnoli and Claudio. Claudio is top-notch in everything. In terms of style, elegance, ability to motivate, ability to coach. Where he has always gone he has always done an excellent job, he has always achieved great results, so he knows how much I respect him, but he also knows that tomorrow’s match will be important for them but it is also very important for us so we expect to to do well”.
Do you share this concern of the fans who will continue to strike tomorrow? And what do you feel like saying and if seeing that empty curve had any effect on you
“I believe that the club has shown in recent years that it knows how to work and can be ambitious. Then I repeat, I believe that all together we must try to finish this championship in the best possible way, then the club will try to give the right answers at the right time” .
Paolo Ladini spoke about managing everyday life, even difficult moments. I still refer to the term used by Florenzi ‘lightning rod’. Has it been more difficult this year to have less support from that point of view? On Wednesday we experienced a very Milan fans-Leao moment. To see Leao smiling like this even on the pitch, what is needed?
“As regards Paolo’s statements, I don’t think I should be the one to comment on his statements. I believe that in general the merits and demerits of a season are always shared between the coach, the club, the players, between those who are the creators of the positive and negative results. As for Leao, to be smiling, I think he wants to do well, score and help the team score goals.”
You mentioned earlier that it would bother you if some players weren’t 100% connected in these last few games. We know that many will have international competitions, Copa America and also the European Championship. Is there someone who will go into management or perhaps have some private chat, especially for those of a slightly advanced age, I’m thinking of Giroud, or those who have many physical problems, I’m thinking of Maignan, if there has been any chat about preservation always with respect for Milan which comes first
“No. In fact, I gave them the opportunity, they know where my office is. At the beginning of the week I said that my office is always there, and therefore whoever, without further discussion, who feels they have already given everything, those who feel a little tired, less energetic, those who don’t feel they are able to help the team the office was open, but no one showed up So I saw the things I wanted to see this week, then the day after tomorrow I will field the team that I think is the best. I will start with the best changes and then be able to improve them during the match.”
Having seen the Europa League matches yesterday, very sincerely speaking, given that you were made fun of a bit for that sentence compared to Real and City, in your opinion, Milan, objectively, are not far from those heights that they have reached, in addition to Roma, also Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta
“I was also made fun of because I said that Atalanta was one of the favorites to win the Europa League. I was referring to the fact that only a year ago we had reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, and then the fact of being being eliminated by Inter had diminished the importance of having reached such an important goal, tell me about this year, this year we have shown that we are clearly far from these teams, but I believe that Milan in the future, based. to the investments he can make, I believe this is a good team, but I don’t want to talk about the future because I think it’s more important for me to be focused on tomorrow’s match, on the championship finale and then we’ll see about the future However, we are far from Atalanta. Our regret this year was the two matches against Roma, in the most absolute way, because we could have also gone to the semi-final with Bayer Leverkusen. I then said that these two would reach the final because the quality of the team and the coaches are high.”
Atalanta has officially announced that they will buy out De Ketelaere. Is there an explanation for last year’s poor performance and this year’s very positive performance?
“I think there could be two, as far as I can tell. Last year, Charles was in his first season in a different, difficult, very competitive championship. He certainly suffered from this novelty. So this year he found himself with an experience superior, in a role that is probably more suited to his characteristics”.
Had he never thought about changing his role?
“No because we had other plans.”
