AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli believes that his side have prepared the best they can for the game against Dortmund, with ‘attention, trust and humility’ now needed.
Milan will play a Champions League game against Dortmund for the first time in 21 years tonight as they meet a side that are unbeaten in the Bundesliga so far in 2023-24 with four wins and two draws, while they have lost one home European game in their last five seasons.
There are three changes to the starting line-up from the team that beat Lazio on Saturday evening with Malick Thiaw, Yunus Musah and Tommaso Pobega all coming into the side for a game that will be played in front of over 80,000 people.
Pioli spoke to Prime Video around an hour before kick-off at the Signal Iduna Park to preview what will be another big test for his side, and his comments were relayed by MilanNews.
Are your team ready for this game?
“Yes, then it will depend on how we interpret the match. We and our opponents are fine: attention, trust and humility will be needed.”
How do the team look?
“The path we took last year helped us understand these matches. If you ask me if we are ready I’ll tell you yes before the match, then… I see a more aware, more mature, less fearful team, even if we know the difficulties of this competition and the advantages of our opponent at home.”
How is Pulisic?
“He is first and foremost intelligent and technical: he always makes the right choices and movements. He has played on both the left and right, but especially on the right he gives us more depth and can be a good advantage for us.”
Playing chants during training is admitting fear. It advertises the problem more than solves it.
I don’t thinks so. There is a parallel to an NFL team called the Seattle Seahawks. Their stadium is the loudest stadium in the league and they often cause extra penalties due to their loud noise levels. Teams that take this into consideration when they practice adapt and overcome this disadvantage. The San Siro has a special mystique and teams that include this in their preparation for games against Inter and Milan acknowledge this. I’ve seen good players get distracted by the atmosphere of big games. A little preparation goes a long way.