2 weeks ago
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AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri has stressed that top four remains the aim for his side, but praised the way they reacted against Fiorentina.
Going into the game, the task was a rather simple one: Milan had to beat a struggling Fiorentina team to go top of the league. Having Christian Pulisic, Adrien Rabiot, Christopher Nkunku, Pervis Estupinan, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ardon Jashari out injured complicated things, as did going behind.
Robin Gosens’ goal early in the second half meant that the Rossoneri needed a comeback, but then Rafael Leao stepped up to the plate. He levelled the scores with a lovely shot from distance, before converting a penalty that Santiago Gimenez won inside the final 10 minutes.
Allegri attended a post-match press conference after the final whistle at San Siro on Sunday night and he offered more thoughts on the game, in addition to the ones in his interview with DAZN. His comments are via MilanNews.
Is this just three points, or is it something more?
“It’s worth three points. Up until the goal, we’d conceded little and had two chances from two set pieces. Then we reacted well, and I’m happy. It’s the first time we’ve come back from a deficit. We’re happy, but there’s another game on Friday, and we just have to focus on working.”
How is Leao doing?
“He’s back from international duty, he needed to regain his fitness. We’re happy with him and the whole team. He has the qualities to help us win matches. But there are the others too. Today, Fofana often came into the box, the midfielders need to score goals and we need to improve on that.
“But now we need to regain our energy, because this is who we are on Friday. We’ll see about Nkunku and Loftus-Cheek, even if they missed days of training…”
What is your opinion on the penalty?
“I haven’t seen it. Sometimes they’re given in your favour, sometimes they’re given against you. VAR is a subjective situation, so you have to accept it. It always goes that way.”
Does this team have the enthusiasm to fight?
“I think the team is finding a good balance in this regard. Winning games is the norm at Milan. With 16 points you’re relegated, so we’ll have to try to get as many more as possible.”
The team seems to have a certain humility…
“Even against Cremonese, we only conceded two crosses. We’ve practically always played like this. If you win, you get the reading right, otherwise you don’t…
“Tonight, Gimenez came on, he didn’t come on for the corner, and we conceded. Then we reacted well. They used tall players. We could have closed down the ball carrier more.”
You are top of the table, but how much work is still to be done?
“Being top of the table is always nice. It means you’re further away from fifth place. You have a different goal. You have to maintain your lead over fifth place. We can’t lose sight of that. This is the moment in the season when the standings are broken up, victories are important.
“Regardless of the absences, we played a good game. In football, you win with humility when you don’t have the ball. Because if you’re humble, you’re more aggressive when you have it.”
English (US) ·