De Winter gives thoughts on four-man defence and jokes about assist for Pavlovic’s goal

Koni De Winter joked about wanting the assist for Strahinja Pavlovic’s winner against Cremonese, which was important going into the derby.

Milan dominated large parts of their Sunday lunchtime kick-off against their fellow Lombardian opponents, but it took until the final minute to break the deadlock. It came from a short corner, with De Winter flicking it on and the contact from Pavlovic doing just enough for it to nestle in.

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Rafael Leao would then make sure of the points in the closing seconds as he tucked away Christopher Nkunku’s square ball on the counter, and the Rossoneri would escape with a 2-0 win that they probably deserved on balance, but feared might not come.

De Winter’s words

De Winter was interviewed by DAZN not long after the full-time whistle had gone at the Stadio Giovanni Zini, and he gave his thoughts after being involved in a clean sheet. MilanNews relayed what he had to say.

Did you make fun of Pavlovic for the nose goal?

“I didn’t see it, I’m happy he scored. Did they give me the assist or not? (laughs)”

What does the derby for you? Leao said it’s do-or-die…

“Like Rafa says. The fans give it a lot of importance, and so do we. Same city, the derby is always the derby, you can hear it everywhere. I agree with Rafa.”

How do you feel about playing in a back four?

“We haven’t done it much this year, so I can’t really say how we feel. But if we train well, it could be a good option. We haven’t done it much, so I can’t tell you how we feel.”