Allegri discusses ambitions and respect for smaller teams after Inter win: “A great victory”

After winning the Derby della Madonnina, AC Milan’s head coach focused on the future, rather than getting stuck in the present. 

For many, last night’s win against Inter will be the focus for a while. However, Allegri was not in the same mindset. For a coach whose most important win is the next one, the Italian did not veer away from his trademarks at full-time.

After a textbook Allegri win, Milan sit in second, two points away from Roma at the top of the Serie A table. However, with an unbeaten streak of 11 games and wins against the rest of the top five, the Rossoneri are in a fantastic position.

Classic Allegri

Despite the magnitude of that win, the focus will remain on the Champions League for now. Nevertheless, Scudetto dreams are understandable, and they are growing more common with each game.

After the game, Allegri discussed the win and what must happen moving forward, via MilanNews.

Great victory…

“I thanked the boys; they gave us a wonderful evening, giving the fans, the club, and the staff a great victory. Tomorrow we have to rest, then on Tuesday we’ll resume training for Lazio, where we have to do well, otherwise we’ll throw away tonight’s result, maintaining the balance.

“We made a few technical mistakes at the start; we were a bit apprehensive; we had to do better.”

Did you expect to be at this point on July 7th?

“In a big team, you have to be ambitious. We’ll see how we can perform, and we need to maintain consistency in our results.”

How do you improve against smaller teams?

“You have to improve by respecting the smaller teams, too. When you return to the pitch, you shouldn’t be faced with so many goal-scoring situations from throw-ins like we were against Parma.”

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Comparable to the victory against Roma?

“It’s not about suffering, but that when you have to defend, you have to be aggressive on every ball to make life difficult for the opponents. When we don’t have the ball, we must not concede goals.”

The derby ended 0-1, just like his first derby…

“They told me after the match. This win allows us to stay in the top four. Five points weren’t a lot from the top spot, but psychologically we could have suffered the setback.”