AC Milan midfielder Yacine Adli has explained the effect that hearing the Milan fans singing has on him and revealed that he feels like one of them at San Siro.
Adli spoke to Fabrizio Salvio of Sportweek for a full interview that will be released on Saturday, but La Gazzetta dello Sport have released an excerpt on Instagram which has been reported by Milan News.
Adli has fought very hard to still be a part of this Milan team given the tough start to life he had in Italy, and he is reaping the rewards as, whilst not an automatic starter, he is clearly a player that Stefano Pioli trusts.
In comments that will certainly endear him to the fan base, Adli explained that seeing 80,000 Milan fans singing at San Siro has a very strong impact on him every time and he identifies with those in the stands.
“When I see 80,000 fans chanting together I get shivers. I feel like one of them. And this, even when I wasn’t playing, made me feel inside, alive, close to the others in the locker room, close to the fans. This love I have and it came by itself, I don’t control it,” Adli said.
He also talked about how he had to back himself during the first full season as a Milan player when he did not have the impact that many fans had expected him to have.
“For better or worse I relativise a lot. When someone said to me, ‘You don’t know how to play, you’re very bad,’ I knew something was still missing, but I knew something would come. Now I seek calm, serenity, I like to hear the sound of nothing, the sound of life,” he said.