AC Milan will face Spurs tonight in the Champions League last 16 first leg and will come up against former Juventus man Dejan Kulusevski, who is relishing the occasion.
Kulusevski is not only a player that Milan know well from his time in Serie A because they were also heavily linked with a move to sign him from Juve during the 2022 January transfer window, particularly towards the end of the month.
MilanNews among other sources reported that Kulusevski was proposed to Milan but there were not the right conditions to open a negotiation because of the formula being demanded and because of the financial requests of the Bianconeri.
Now, he returns to the San Siro having impressed so far with Spurs and he spoke at a press conference ahead of tonight’s game in the Champions League, with his comments relayed by FootballLondon.
The injuries the team have suffered are a real blow, what are the realistic targets for Spurs now?
“You have to work to short targets always, training well and do the next game well. It’s a very important game against a strong Milan so we have to get a good result here. Then you have to live every day like that. I think that’s the most important thing and at the end of the season we will see where we will be.”
You know Rodrigo Bentancur very well and you were one of the first to come over to him when he went down. How is he now, have you spoken to him since?
“Rodrigo is so strong. Not only on the pitch but outside of the pitch, he’s unbelievable. He’s so positive. Like I’m shocked at how he can be so positive after news like that. We will miss him on the pitch but outside the pitch he’s a fantastic guy and he will do it, he’ll come back stronger and I wish him a good recovery because we’ll miss him on the pitch because he’s an important player.”
In the past you’ve come up against Milan, can you tell us about that and what about the challenge of Theo Hernandez, since you last faced him he has grown and improved a lot?
“AC Milan have always been one of the best teams worldwide so I have a lot of respect for this team. Theo Hernandez is a wonderful player. I had the chance to play against him a couple of times when I was playing with Parma and Juventus, but I never think about my individual game.”
How shaken were the Spurs team by the news of Bentancur’s injury as he was one of the leaders of your team?
“As you have just mentioned, he’s a leader on the pitch and outside the pitch. We’re so sorry about the team, but first of all we are sorry about him because it’s not good at all. It’s really, really bad, being out of the pitch for such a long time.
“Life is like that sometimes. Things happen and you need to accept them. We are going to face this bad period and we are going to help him, we’re going to support him all the time. When he will be back it will be so good to play again with him.”
In recent games Milan had to change their strategy with less pressure put on opponents, so considering these changes could this be an advantage to you with more space?
“We will have this answer tomorrow. I’ve seen the games, I’ve watched the games, we know that in games like this tactics are not a primary issue. I think that the priority is playing well and playing well in defence and also making good passes and creating good geometries on the pitch.
“We need to follow what the manager says and on the pitch we have to do what we are used to doing.”
Hahahahaha, he must be joking
We will show spurs that we are milan