Bennacer discusses importance of derby win and insists he has ‘never seen Pioli run like this’

AC Milan defeated Inter 2-1 in a fantastic Derby della Madonnina showdown, with Olivier Giroud’s late brace bringing the Rossoneri closer to their opponents in the Serie A table and keeping the title race wide open.

One of the key players during today’s match at the San Siro was Ismael Bennacer, who performed fantastically alongside Sandro Tonali in the double pivot.

The Algerian, who only just returned from the African Cup of Nations several days ago, spoke to the media in the aftermath of the match.

“In the first half they were very compact, we didn’t find the space. We knew there would be more space in the second half and we did well,” Bennacer told DAZN (via Milannews.it).

The former Empoli went on to discuss the importance of the victory as well as the team’s playing style which includes a lot of involvement from the fullbacks Theo Hernandez and Davide Calabria.

“These are three very important points for us and for our goal. Now we have to go on. Playing between the lines? We played a lot with our full-backs, Inter also did well in the first half and they were compact,” the midfielder added.

Finally, Bennacer discussed how the team changed its approach in the second half as well as the post-match celebration and talk between the players as well as Pioli’s run at the end of the match.

“At the end of the first half, we said we need to do more. We were missing something but we were on the right path. We had to do more, we did it and we won,” Bennacer said.

“If I ever saw Pioli run like this? No no (laughs), it’s a special game, it’s normal that you celebrate like this,” he added.

“What we said to each other during the final hug? I didn’t hear too much, there were a lot of screams. We were very happy,” Bennacer concluded.