After the win against Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli shares his thoughts on the impressive performance. He also commented on Rafael Leao, who was decisive after a few weeks of struggling.
Milan needed to win this evening and thanks to a great performance, they managed to do so. Despite conceding the first goal of the game, the Rossoneri didn’t give up and quickly equalised through Rafael Leao. Then, in the second half, Olivier Giroud scored the winner.
Speaking to Sky Italia, as cited by MilanNews, Pioli shared his thoughts on the successful tactics and bouncing back from the disappointment against Udinese. He also shared a few words on Leao, who responded to the recent criticism.
On the victory…
“We did what we had to do. We played with the right spirit. We made an exceptional effort to put a great team back together. Congratulations to the boys. It was an important match for the group, nothing has been decided, now we will play at home against Dortmund.”
On the reaction after Udinese…
“They [the players] did a lot of the work. I reminded them of who we are and the path we have taken. We gave the fans a great evening after Saturday’s disappointment.”
On the game…
“It’s clear that I would like my Milan to always play like this. On Saturday, we made a more broader mistake in the game, but this team has its own way of playing and being on the pitch. These games say many things. We suffered, they kept the ball more, but we also had opportunities to score more goals. We took an important step forward, but the group will only be decided in the last round. Now we have a direct clash with Dortmund who are two points ahead of us and could be decisive.”
On Leao…
“This must be his standard. He can be a champion, but it depends only on him. He played an exceptional match like everyone else, not only in terms of quality, but also in terms of desire.”
On the differences between the Champions League and the league…
“It’s not a different Milan. We weren’t in difficulty against Juve and Napoli, we paid dearly for some mistakes. Tonight we suffered a lot, but we have to dive back into the league immediately.”
Milan will face Borussia Dortmund in the next round and with a win there, they will be in good shape for the Round of 16. However, given that this group is so tight, it will likely come down to the final round (when they will face Newcastle away from home).
He is right about Leao. He’s still like a kid. Sometimes he cares, sometimes he doesn’t. Last time I checked he’s getting paid millions each year. How about some professionalism?
he got a great night and i think he can sleep soundly tonight. keep them playing in this level as standard for every match they play. and he will have a good sleep every night.
So does Pioli still have the locker room? What was the difference in motivation before Udinese VS tonight?
Sensible approach to the game tonight. Press for goals then sit back and counter. Everyone played so much better tonight. Credit to Pioli?
Credit to him and the boys. But somewhere, i bet some people think Ibra got the full credit for this win lol.
” i bet some people think Ibra got the full credit for this win lol.”
Naah, the credit goes to everyone bashing Cardinale and American owners in general.
No, the success of the the team’s play depends on Pioli.
Your game management was risky at times…we need to press more and continue to put the opposition under pressure. But the desire was there… We need to be more clinical in front of goal, I counted 2 sitters that should have been put away…there is promise, now for consistency going forward
In 2 matches in row in ECL with PSG, we can see clearly why Mbappe is already matured & already won many things in such young age. But Leao hasn’t really achieve many things.
Mbappe can keep his consistency in good times or bad times. When his team struggle or dominated, Mbappe still pose the same serious threads.
I hope Leao can keep that kind of consistency. Leao has everything, Leao can be complete threads in Final Third.
– Excellent Physical Attributes (Very Fast, agile & balanced, strong).
– High level finishing & pretty good long-shots.
– High level of flair, Leao was often took his opponents easily in final third.
– Have good crossing, vision & passing.
Leao looks bad when drop deeper and trying to playmaking, thats all. So in Final Third, he should involved much, make it fast & direct, and the most important thing : Consistently.