AC Milan captain Davide Calabria has stated that he would rather face Manchester City or Real Madrid than a domestic rival in the Champions League.
The draw for the quarter-finals will take place in Nyon tomorrow and it features three Serie A sides in the final eight for the first time since the 2005-06 season, with many fans dreaming of a Milanese derby on the biggest footballing stage.
However, there are also a number of what would be classed as ‘elite’ European clubs in there too for Milan to look out for such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester City who breezed past PSG, Liverpool and RB Leipzig respectively.
Calabria was a guest on Rai 2 last night and spoke about various topics from the Champions League to what goes on in the dressing room, with his comments relayed by PianetaMilan.
On the chance of meeting Inter: “Obviously the derby is always the derby, but I also told the coach: we always meet the Italian teams, I would like a different one. Then the Champions League is always another what, but Real Madrid or City… I would like to play them. Whatever you get you take.”
Then, Calabria simulated tomorrow’s draw with the host Alessandro Cattelan and Milan got Chelsea: “I sincerely hope not, for how it turned out when we met them!”
On Zlatan Ibrahimovic: “Zlatan will go in days. If his body is fine, he’s calm, but if he’s pi**ed he’ll even put his hands on us. Above all on the pitch.”
On the funniest in the dressing room: “Kessie was stupid, he was really stupid. Now we are all almost intelligent, don’t worry. Now, there is no stupid.”
On his passion for wine: “I’ve met many like me who thought of giving themselves to the vineyard, but I don’t see myself remaining in the world and I have this passion. I was born in the province of Brescia, that of Franciacorta, and a bit by chance.
“My grandfather made wine for himself at home and I had the cellar at home. I see myself. It’s a passion that I like. As a footballer it’s difficult to carry on that passion. You can’t, it’s impossible.
“Especially in this world to understand you have to drink a lot of it. I like it … But there are friends who have this passion, including for example Barella and after the match if we win in the national team sometimes we even have a drink.”
On tattoos: “My other great passion was Dragon Ball, I have everything… even a tattoo that I don’t show on my chest: Goku on the Speedy cloud in colour. So a big fan.”
On Kjaer: “I don’t remember what Kjaer has on his a**, but he has something like that. He’s a cartoon fan too… Johnny Bravo, I think. I’ll check tomorrow.”
On sending positive messages: “In the world of football we try to give ourselves to many causes. Children, animals… If I can give positive messages, I do it willingly. There are problems and I do it when possible. I really like animals, I did it in the area Franciacorta with kennels in difficulty in winter. I like to lend a hand. I got my dog there.”