Allegri discusses Gabbia’s return, Leao’s condition and beating Napoli: “Need a few days”

This afternoon, AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri gave a short interview to the press ahead of tomorrow’s Supercoppa Italiana semi-final against Napoli.

There is a bit of pressure on tomorrow’s game after the weekend’s draw. Milan didn’t rest players and could not get a result against another of the promoted teams. So, if his team are unable to bounce back straight away, it will be frustrating.

Of course, there are the financial and mental pressures on the game as well. Winning the tournament will provide another €7 million to spend in January, whilst beating one or two title rivals would only be seen as a good thing in the Scudetto race.

Allegri’s brief update

As is normal, the Italian held a proper press conference with the media this morning, speaking about a range of topics. However, he has also spoken to SportMediaset this afternoon, via MilanNews, about the game and more.

How is Leao?

“We’ll see if he’ll be available again, because he hasn’t trained with the team for several days. We’ll see what his condition is today.

“Gabbia stayed home; he had a trauma and will need a few days to recover. We hope to have him back for the league match on the 28th. As for Gimenez, he seemed to be on the mend with conservative therapy, but he stopped playing due to ankle pain.

“He had a consultation, and tomorrow he’ll have a minor operation that will keep him away from the pitch for a while. We hope to have him back as soon as possible.”

Is cover short at this point? Is market intervention already being considered?

“Right now, it’s a new decision that was made yesterday after the consultation. We haven’t thought about it; we have a match coming up, which is tomorrow. Afterwards, we’ll make the necessary assessments with the club.

Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo + Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

“In the meantime, we’ve recovered Fofana and Athekame, and Leao is on the road to recovery. Right now, the transfer market is focused on recovering the players we have at home, then we’ll see.”

How do you beat Napoli?

“I think tomorrow will be a completely different game. It’s a one-off match. We have to be good, and above all, we’re playing away. It’s a strange environment, everything is completely different.”