On the eve of the challenge between Milan And Genoathe rossoblù coach, Alberto Gilardinospoke at the press conference.
How is Gudmundsson? Is he recoverable?
“We will do some evaluations today, we will have the finishing touches before leaving for Milan. We hope to recover it, we hope so. How is Matturro? Alan has been training with the team for a few days, he has come a long way and as I told you we had the desire to bring him back to the team as quickly as possible. So it was. He has great desire, then it’s normal that I will have to make some evaluations for tomorrow’s race. Let’s evaluate whether we can bring him to the bench in the next games.”
How many chances are there tomorrow of seeing confirmations in the lineup seen against Cagliari? And what chances does Vitinha have of starting from the beginning?
“Vitinha carved out a small space for himself in the previous match. He too is continuing his training journey to get back into better shape, the desire is to give him a certain continuity in playing time and also from this point of view I will have to make some assessments, if Albert isn’t there or if we manage to get him back. I’ll decide tomorrow. On some confirmations, absolutely yes: the desire is to go in that direction, to provide continuity. At the same time there is the desire to see players who, in the last period, have had less playing time than others to make evaluations myself, together with the club. Also for the future.”
Well, you talked about the future. Has there been any progress regarding your future?
“The situation is that we have found a verbal agreement with the company, we will see each other again in the next few days. I am content and happy, it has always been my will and desire. I had spoken about it to the company already in the past few weeks. There was a desire to give continuity to a job together with the staff and team, to try to reconfirm itself: details and some types of situations are missing, but there was a very, very positive verbal agreement. What do I expect from the club in the future? The future is called Milan, it’s tomorrow’s match. You know by now how I think. There is this desire on my part, I have transferred this thought to the team. There is a desire to improve and amaze in this championship finale, at home and away, on all pitches, to play on an equal footing with all the other teams, knowing that tomorrow we will face a strong team, a talented, well-trained team. very good from Mr. Pioli. They are second in the standings with a points average similar to when they won the championship, the only thing that Inter this year is doing is a championship apart. We are talking about a team of great talent and quality from every point of view, dangerous on inactive balls. We will play in a prestigious stadium and we want to play a great match.”
How do you see Retegui? Do you miss the goal a bit?
“It’s normal for attackers to work hard for the team, to make themselves available to the team, but scoring a goal is certainly an important and stimulating thing for an attacker. What I tell him, the advice I can give him is to focus on how much good he is doing, how much good he serves the team. The episodes will go towards him and he will certainly return to scoring.”
You and Milan are two teams that have now achieved their objectives. You will play mentally free. Milan will also have the silence of San Siro, you come from the brilliant match against Cagliari. How much influence could all this have on a psychological level?
“Given that we are very, very happy to have achieved the objective set five days early and given that the boys must be acknowledged for the great work they have done in an extraordinary season, from the point of view of attitude, of going to improve ourselves and to amaze: here, we must have these wills within us. These are important considerations. Milan can put anyone in difficulty at any time with their play and creativity, we know what kind of environment we will find. We must undoubtedly think about limiting their strength and skill by enhancing our qualities when we have the ball and when we are in the opponent’s half of the pitch.”
We saw Gudmundsson with Retegui, but also Vitinha with Retegui. What more do I ask them?
“All situations can be adapted and are in sync with the team’s form. Albert is more of an attacking midfielder, more of an attacking midfielder than Vitinha who is a pleasant real second striker. They are two different ways of interpreting the match and covering areas of the pitch. Vitinha comes back from an injury, he returned, he played a good part of the game. We will evaluate it starting tomorrow for the next matches.”
We spent a Friday evening, after they cheered you at the stadium on Monday evening, with cell phones ringing with this news of your confirmation, even if the signature is still missing. Everyone is happy with this news. But the main question is this: did you believe in making these 42 points before May Day?
“That has always been my dream. Starting in retreat there were objective difficulties, but gradually during the season I always had the perception, the sensation, the clear picture that this team had something strong within itself, that it not only had technical, physical and tactical qualities, but also great human qualities that allowed us to have this important championship. We have always believed in it, we have always fought, fought, tried to get the result at every moment. It was the strength of the team, of the boys, the strength of my staff who gave me a hand and always worked alongside me. I’m really very happy. My feelings, my will, my perception in this period has always been Genoa and I believe that even in the post and pre-match interviews the perception was the same. This desire has always been perceived from my words. It’s natural that, on my part, there is this attachment to these colours, to this team and to those who gave me the opportunity to undertake this path. We did well to win a championship and confirm ourselves in Serie A, but the club must be acknowledged for having believed in me and, together, I believe we can continue to do an excellent job.”
In this championship finale you can be the tip of the balance. You can be very satisfied…
“And we must continue to dream, continue to improve ourselves: what we must have must be personal, but also collective input. We must try to finish this championship in the best way, to score as many points as possible: that must be the will. We know it will be a difficult, demanding match, as they have all been in this championship. You always find organized teams, they are all matches where on a mental level you always have to stay within the match and have great attention. The desire is to give continuity to this attitude.”
This week there was the Champions League and everyone says to play with the 3-4-2-1 or the 4-3-1-2 and then they all play with the five-man defence. But they receive compliments from everyone. It is done in Italy, sometimes even at Genoa and some criticism comes. Do the players up front make the difference?
“It is determined by the attitude of the team and the collective, the attitude and quality of the individual players. If you have players with certain types of characteristics you can adapt your team to a certain type of football. There are many teams that build one way and then defend with three or five. Our desire is to be mentally open in this type of situation, open to this type of modeling, during the race and from the start. It is a mental attitude that we must continue to have and of which I am convinced because it has brought us results. We must continue to work in this direction.”
Add two or three stars to this season: debut some Primavera players whose names I won’t mention because you will already know them…
“The desire is above all to make evaluations with the boys I have in my squad, who have played little lately. Bohinen, Spence, Thorsby himself who played an incredible game against Cagliari and other players who played less playing time. It’s natural that in these matches there is extra attention on my part for these guys because I’ve been down too, I know what it means to coach down, I know what it means to help young players grow. They are having an excellent championship and an excellent run, also in the Primavera, and for my part the attention has always been there and will also be there in these matches towards certain boys who have trained with us for a long time this season ”.
Press Review of May 4th, Genoa and Gilardino moving forward together. Gudmundsson in doubt for Milan
