AC Milan midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura has admitted that he had a lot of anger to vent after his goal against Napoli at San Siro on Saturday.
The 30-year-old scored his first league goal in 412 days as he cancelled out Hirving Lozano’s header to earn a point for the Rossoneri against Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Bonaventura was left sidelined by a knee injury which required surgery last year but made his first start under Stefano Pioli against the Partenopei.
A lot of the talk surrounding the midfielder has been about his future at the club beyond this season, as his contract expires in June.
However, La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews.it) reported on Monday that Milan are intent on renewing his deal and as such will likely hold more talks with Mino Raiola to try and reach an agreement.
Bonaventura has played 158 games in all competitions since arriving from Atalanta, scoring 32 goals and adding 16 assists, and he spoke to the microphones of Milan TV. His words were transcribed by MilanNews.it.
“The Euros? Mancini is an experienced coach and he is a winner. I think that if in June I will be among the fittest players in Italy I think he will call me,” he said.
“Going to the National team is always great. I want to work well and get back the National team.”
On Milan’s struggles in front of goal, he added: “We have to score more goals, we are working on it. With Mr. Pioli we have changed several things, since he arrived he has done an important job and I think something has already been seen.
“We have several midfielders this year. In recent years I have played a lot as a midfielder and as a winger. For me it does not make so much difference, the important thing is to have clear ideas.
“I played a little everywhere, it is important that the coach tells me in which areas to move in the field and what he wants from me. In midfield I need to run more, because you are more in the heart of the game in both phases of the game.
“I like being close to the goal, so I also think that that could be my right position. Whoever is closest to the area has more opportunities to score.
“We need to have continuity. The coach is trying to figure out which players can be most useful for his way of playing. Having a game a week, not having the cups, I don’t think there is a need to change so much.
“The coach seems to me to be finding a very precise idea of the game and if we carry it forward with continuity I think we can improve from Sunday to Sunday.”
On Parma-Milan: “The Tardini is a difficult stadium and Parma plays well. When you go to play in Serie A they are very difficult matches. I am convinced that we will prepare well.
“Pioli, in my opinion, has the desire to attack the opposing team and high up the pitch and press in order to run more forward and less backwards. Sometimes the opposing teams manage to get out of the first press and the wingers have to run very far back, obviously.
“Against Napoli it didn’t happen so much, fortunately. If the winger has to run so much up to the area, then it’s difficult to make the right play to attack. he asks to be aggressive going forward and we have to do this.”
On his celebration: “It was a liberation, it was a period in which I accumulated so much anger to vent. In September-October I felt good and felt that I needed to play. I had suffered a little this situation, because I felt I could lend a hand to this team. I had a bit of healthy anger.”
On Krzysztof Piatek’s struggles : “To help him we must stay as much as possible in the opposing half of the field, creating the prerequisite for him to score.
“For his part, I believe he must continue to work with even more desire and not be too stubborn on scoring goals. He must stay calm, taking care of all the aspects of the job and not fix too much on the goal. Otherwise it gets even worse.
“We are reasoning game by game now, since the ranking is not beautiful now we must first put ourselves in a different position and then think about who is in front of us.
“Rightly, we must realise that the situation is bad, for what we wanted to do at the beginning of the year we have to do something extraordinary to qualify in the Europa League, in the Champions League or in what we want to do.
“I try to do my best when I am at Milanello, both in behaviour and in giving advice to team-mates. There are so many young boys who need time to adapt and a team to put them in a position to fit in well. We all have to think for the best of ourselves, so that we can all become leaders.”
