Our Coach spoke from Milanello on the eve of tomorrow’s showdown with Atalanta
Qualifying for the Europa League and the recent renewal of his contract aren’t sufficient reasons for concentration levels to drop. Atalanta will be the visitors to San Siro tomorrow, and, despite the fact that AC Milan will be missing a number of players, Coach Pioli has no intention of settling for anything less than fifth place. Live from Milanello and on the AC Milan Official App, the Rossoneri Coach addressed all the key topics relating to tomorrow’s clash at San Siro.


HIS CONTRACT RENEWAL
“I’m having a hard time trying not to think about this, it’s what I wanted and what I was hoping for. But we’ve got a difficult and important fixture tomorrow, one that will count towards our present and our future. I absolutely have to stay focused on this season, then I’ll have time to think about the next one and the satisfaction of being this team’s Coach.”

PAST RESULTS AGAINST ATALANTA
“I don’t think we need to look at any particular statistics in order to find the right motivation to continue the form that we’re in (Atalanta haven’t lost at San Siro since 2014). We’re well aware of how tough a fixture this is, of our opponent’s strength and their impressive statistics. But it’s also true that we’re AC Milan, we’re in good form and we want to put in a big performance.”

THE REVERSE FIXTURE
“We’ve changed so much since then. It was a predictable result in my opinion, because it was an especially negative game for us and an especially positive one for them. They were extremely clinical in attack, while we were still at the start of our journey. Since then, we’ve changed our style of play and brought in some big players who have raised our level. We’re now a different AC Milan side, but tomorrow’s game remains a tough one.”

THOSE MISSING
“Theo brings very important characteristics, combining offensive physicality with the work he does in defence. Unfortunately sometimes you just can’t avoid a yellow and the consequent suspension. He won’t be the only one missing, but the players called up to the squad will be ready to give their all and put in the hard yards for the team, just like Laxalt did in the second half against Sassuolo. Suspensions and injuries will always come and go, but the squad’s doing well, we’re ready, we’re alive and we know that we’ll have to put in a massive performance on the pitch. I’m worried about not having many spare options in defence, but we have to grit our teeth and we’ll definitely be competitive.”