Empoli head coach Paolo Zanetti responded to the question of how his side will stop Rafael Leao tomorrow night in what is an ‘important test’ for his side.
It has been a mixed start to the season for Empoli as they have won one of their opening seven games, though that victory did come in the game before the international break as they beat Bologna 1-0.
The Tuscan side have only scored six goals so far but have only let in seven, and with Milan having several injuries to contend with it will hardly be a stroll in the park for Stefano Pioli’s men.
Zanetti spoke to the media on the eve of the game in his pre-match press conference and he began by giving an update on the injured players, with his comments relayed by Calciomercato.com.
“It was an unusual fortnight, because training with so few players is not normal. Those who have been here trained hard, unfortunately we have lost Ismajli, it seems that it is a fairly serious muscle injury. Akpa Akpro also stopped today, tomorrow he will not be in the match. The national teams are always a question mark: we must take into account everyone’s conditions and the accumulated fatigue,” he said.
“The goal of winning is what we work hard for every day, a victory that is the result of performance has arrived in Bologna. We have never lacked self-esteem. Tomorrow’s game will be against the Italian champions with merit, it was a pleasure to analyse Milan because they play well in all phases. They have many solutions, aggressiveness, physical condition, set well, so it’s an important testing ground.
“Stopping Leao? It could be that Leao gets the flu (laughs). Leao is a champion but thinking about individuality is wrong, it means giving too much weight to who has to mark him. I don’t want the team of distorted due to a single player.”
On Luperto battling against Olivier Giroud: “Luperto is the leader of our defense, he is a cornerstone of the team. On Giroud it is the same speech made on Leao: we work in the department to mark him when needed, but it is not an individual matter.”
