A lot of eyebrows were raised when Sergio Conceicao announced AC Milan’s starting XI against Bologna, benching the star Christian Pulisic. However, as explained by the manager, he was stopped by the club doctors.
There has been a great debate among the Milan fans in recent days regarding Conceicao’s preference to start Joao Felix over the other attackers. It was further fueled by the decision to bench Pulisic against Bologna, bringing him on for 29 minutes in the second half.
Conceicao was asked about this during his press conference earlier today, on the eve of the Lazio clash, and he simply explained that it wasn’t his decision. The team doctors stopped the winger at the last second in order to avoid the physical issue getting worse.
“Puli is different. On the day of the match against Bologna, the doctor told me he couldn’t start the match. At that moment, I had to find a solution, I had to move Musah and put Joao on who shouldn’t have played from the start. I’ll tell you the truth. He [Pulisic] has had a small physical problem for a month and we have to manage it, you can see it in his physical freshness,” he stated.
It remains to be seen if Pulisic will be able to play from the first minute tomorrow. Milan could certainly use it as the former Chelsea man has been very important this season. He also hasn’t scored in the league since the end of January, so he will be keen on breaking the drought.
Load manage! Load manage! Load manage!
I’m starting to see this as an excuse to play Felix. Right now, a reporter needs to ask Pulisic how’s he feeling and is he ready to play. After the game he won’t say anything that puts the manager in a difficult spot.
Players disagree with doctors all of the time. But the coach makes the decision. We will never know what the truth is.
Yes he is lying publicly. Something that can be disproven in half a second. Stop taking drugs.
I did not know Jorge Mendes was a doctor.