AC Milan captain Davide Calabria provided a rather honest reflection on the season after last night’s win against Juventus to seal a top four spot.
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Milan went to Turin knowing that they just needed one point to seal a top four spot after the Bianconeri’s points deduction and their 4-1 defeat against Empoli in the previous round, and they ended up getting all three.
Olivier Giroud was the man for the big occasion again as he produced a sumptuous header to open the scoring just before the break, with Calabria having a hand thanks to his inch-perfect cross for the assist.
Calabria spoke during an interview with Sky after the match and he was asked about the difficult moments within the season as well as how the 2022 summer signings have fared, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
Milan had a crisis in January…
“It was the most difficult period of the Pioli era. Honestly, I saw the team in physical difficulty, I was struggling… Then it’s normal that if the matches go badly, even mentally, you lose confidence.
“There is regret for that period. We achieved the Champions League target, but we wanted at least to annoy Napoli because the goal as Italian champions was to win something, despite having had a great Champions League run.”
How did the new signings do?
“Commenting on the transfer market isn’t my job… Charles is talented, if the club has spent money, they’ve seen something. I understand the difficulties of a guy who comes from a smaller league, he probably suffered from the pressure, even from the media… I hope he can clear his head this summer, recover his energy and come back in the best possible way.”
Calabria also spoke to Milan TV after the game and offered further reflections on the campaign as a whole.
“The Champions League was our target, we came here eyeing a positive result as we wanted to get the job done. We deserved what we’ve achieved,” he said.
“Needless to say we’re all delighted. It was vital for us to come here and win, after such a rollercoaster season from numerous perspectives. This is the fitting end to it all.
“Such is the importance of the Champions League that if you go all the way as we did this year, it can be energy-sapping both physically and mentally. Reaching the semis definitely impacted our league form.
“We clearly weren’t at our best in some games this season but we must not forget all the adversities such as Mike’s long-term absence, other players’ injuries such as mine and the World Cup break.
“The season’s been so-so but in the end we reached our goal, you can’t take it for granted to win the Scudetto every year. We gave praise to Napoli for their incredible season, our target was to qualify for the Champions League and we did it. And in the tournament we ended up being in the final four.
“For this set of players it’s an incredible achievement. We’re happy, it’s been a positive campaign.”
