AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli has spoken about the decision to leave Rafael Leao out of tonight’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Inter.
The build-up to the game was dominated by the doubts surrounding whether Leao would play or not given that he came off during the first half of the win over Lazio at the weekend with an adductor problem.
It became obvious that it was not a serious injury and that is why there was some hope that he could make it back in time for tonight or at least get on the bench, however today’s decisive final tests clearly did not go as well as hoped.
Pioli spoke to Amazon Prime Video in the pre-match build-up and was asked about Leao not being available for the game which is obviously a big blow for his plans, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
“The audition didn’t work, he’s still feeling a bit of a niggle and can’t play. So let’s play with other characteristics,” he began.
How will you deal without Leao?
“With team play, as always. If we play as a solid and compact team we will play the match in the best possible conditions.”
How will you approach this game?
“Staying very close to my players, reminding them of some tactical situations that will be important and with great enthusiasm and with great energy.”
Did you talk about feelings?
“There are so many emotions, as they often say, we have to play with a lot of heart but with a lot of clarity because it can make the difference”
How much is it worth today?
“It’s worth a lot, let’s not forget that it will be decided in 180 minutes. We’d like to take some advantage tonight for the return match.”
Is there free space for a tattoo like that of the Scudetto?
“Ooooof (laughs).”
We are getting cleaned out. The hell is this. We need to get our heads back in this game.
This is a terrible start.
Bennacer out….
what the hell is going on
In what world is Calabria suppose to face Dzeko??? Poor defensive organisation
agreed. can’t connect passes nor attack space the other side of the pitch either..calamity so far
Without Leao, Milan are clueless how to attack.
Lautaro “snake” martinez wanted penalty by diving
should have got a yellow for that
If it’s a yellow for the ‘foul’ has to be a yellow for the dive – Martinez has always been a cheat
yes, exactly, it makes no sense he got away without a card for simulation
Imagine without Leao the best attacking option on the pitch is Junior Messias. What is going on?
S Poili is Inter Fam and he is not lloyal to acmilan and belief me he wants inter to qualify in to tje final.
He us inter Agent
How sure are you?
Super coppa all over again. Nothing changed on how Inter play. Yet it’s like we didn’t ever learn a single thing from that 3-0 embarrassment.
when inter play at their best milan cannot compete , they are a step above in quality. CDK and origin were supposed to cut the gap. Luckily for us they are very inconsistent
Inter for the trophy …
Never fear – super sub Origi will bail us out ….
hopfully all the discusions about our captain will come to an end soon.
Exactly. We are conceding the same type of goals. In the 1-0 lost we conceded from a conner and in the 3-2 win we conceded from the running through the middle of the park. No lessons learned.
Like I’ve been saying for months, Pioli doesn’t learn. Need to fire this guy if we want to make real progress. Now that Napoli, Juve and Inter have improved greatly, we are only the 4th team in Italy, and we may still finish 5th, i.e. no CL.
Tonali is a monster…he’s trying to do this on his own…Origi has made a difference too
So many questions to be asked and answered here.
The amount of times we have gifted possession to inter is a disgrace.
As usual this comes down to our awful squad depth
Big issue in midfield has been Krunic; too slow and too many mistakes – might as well have a blue shirt on
I saw the selection c’mon where will the goal creation coming from.. pioli never learns..after that disgrace in coppa Italia now this….funny enough what better option are at the bench…
well I always had that niggling. thought about Inzaghi. having the upper hand when facing Pioli. He has whooped Pioli more often than not. Pioli’s lack of creativity shows a lot when Leao ain’t playing. the idea is, do not concede if you know you can’t score. Inter knew we were exposed and toothless without leao. they exploited his absence to the maximum.
I do not see Pioli overtuning this, if we scored one goal, but 0-2 down… Inzaghi will. finish the job. If Pioli loses top 4 position too in one season, he should be fired for not knowing his priorities.
The only positive with this game is that now it is clear that Pioli will not be in charge next season and I am all for it. Zero tactical ability. To think that Inter are not prepared that Milan would play like they did against Napoli. And is clear to see tjat Milan has no way of attack. No style of play and he has been there for 3,5 years.
Yet we have people blaming Pioli when we have a relegated Calabrese team player who was delivering pizzas in Serie C not too long ago, on our right wing as a sub, a 2 million dollar player from the Belgian league on the left subbing for our star player, a free agent that hasnt scored, a loaned player that got bullied off every ball down the middle, plus a player we got from Empoli for less than the price of two toilette paper rolls…
Yet the coach is the problem…? This is not against Cremonese, these are players used in a once in a lifetime European Champion’s League Semi Final…not by choice, as our best options because we stayed inactive over 2 transfer windows.
Inter have Lukaku, Dzeko, Corea, Brozovic, Lautoro to choose from. One of their subs transfer value was higher than our entire frontline owned by our club…
Pioli…he must he the problem..the fact we are even in the Semis is a miracle
The fact we even have a chance at heading to Istanbul is a miracle
Agree with you. Somehow inter have amassed a vastly superior forward line on a worse financial position…
We have been found wanting in a big way. Apart from Tonali and Mike, we were embarrassing today
they are financially in a complete mess, yet sold Lukaku for millions only to get him back right after so they keep getting themselves out of the woods.
it drives me crazy, how Kessie could have been a solution to 90% of this season’s nonsense yet they played hardball , jeopardizing hundreds of millions potentially to save one or two. completely crazy and irreplaceable player left for a ridiculous transfer policy. With our budgets, a player of his worth cannot be allowed to leave. He wanted 6 or 7, give it to him. He could have solved many of our midfield problems and kept us in contention for a title in the league. Bennacer or Tonali down, Kessie as a back up, would have kept us fresh all season in the middle.
to think we blame Hakan for leaving when they capped their offer for a few hundred K. In his place, given his importance to the team, unique skills on set pieces, I would have done the same in his position. That is an insult to a professional athlete. Our management made more blunders than good moves. I daresay Hakan and Kessie with us wed be well ahead of our competition. They would have cost less to keep over last 2 season than acquire Origi
I don’t hate Pioli. No one is perfect. I understand that, and I respect everything he did for us. But, I understand why fans are frustrated with Pioli.
We beat Napoli, right? Napoli is miles ahead of Inter in every aspect. yet we beat them with relegated Calabrese team player who was delivering pizzas in Serie C not too long ago, our right wing as a sub, a 2 million dollar player from the Belgian league on the right, a free agent that hasnt scored, a loaned player that got bullied off every ball down the middle, plus a player we got from Empoli for less than the price of two toilette paper rolls… but How did we crumble so bad in this match against a team somewhat weaker than Napoli when we fielded basically the same team bar Leao?
Do you know what that means? Pioli has NO aces under his sleeves. There is no tactical attacking strategy present except slinging the ball at leao and praying to God, exactly how we beat Napoli. Moreover, he then proceeds to sub out the players who are playing good pretty much in every match.. specially against Napoli in BOTH legs making us unable to score more after Napoli were down to 10 men. That indicates he cant read the game well. Not to mention he takes years to actually bring out the qualities of a good player. Krava aint half as talented as Leao yet he shined more in first season and Leao finally showed his form on his third season.
Yes we didn’t have Leao, but how come we couldn’t form a SINGLE attack against Inter properly? Are these players SO BAD That they don’t know HOW to attack? The qualities are there and we can see them. They are not being used properly is all.
Yes Pioli has weaknesses and I agree that’s not reason to hate. But fans has rights to be frustrated. He needs to acknowledge his gaps and need to agree to hire help in those aspects. All bigname coaches has Damn good assistant coaches to help them. Our teams performance if leao doesn’t play says our coaching staff knows NOTHING About how to attack. Time to fire a few and hire some new coaching staff to improve the players we have.
Pioli definitely is not THE Problem.. but at this current stage, he sure is one of the problems. A coach who cant read the game well won’t go very far. I hope Pioli comes to his senses and hire help in that regard at least for the attacking stage.
Forza Milan.
While I’m no fan of Origi, largely because I don’t know what he is…he is a great athlete, he’s no striker…he’s a ‘decent’ forward player. However I don’t know why he’s not been used on the left more as Rafa’s replacement. If nothing else you get pace and strength from Origi. He can bully a fullback.
Perhaps this will be a wake up to Cardinale…our depth is woeful.
Pioli is just a clown. Why?
1. Diaz against Dummfri physycality= disappeared
2. Sala should be in right not left. He’s fast and stop Dummfri easily
3. Pobega instead Diaz. He’s physical. Always push forward. Good passer
4. Rebic in left to neutralization Darmaine. Add pushing force forward
5. Chanes were slow in time.
6. Play 4-4-2/ 4-4-3easily can beat 352 formation. No brainer
Losing 3 times in row with same team that using same formation 352 and same player are strange. Pioli never learn how to neutralize simone inzaghi . If failed to secure participation spot for CL next season better replace pioli with new coach like sarri or de zerbi , but i still have small hope that AC Milan can go to final ( need miracle )