Sassuolo head coach Alessio Dionisi has claimed that AC Milan are a stronger team this season despite not managing to get close to the same result as the one in May.
It was certainly a far cry from the game that took place in May when Milan romped to a 3-0 win to seal the Scudetto, with the Rossoneri struggling to find the quality needed in the right moments to unlock the Sassuolo defence.
In the end it was Sassuolo who could have ended up winning the game when Domenico Berardi won and took a penalty, but Mike Maignan was equal to it to ensure the game stayed 0-0, as it finished.
Dionisi spoke at the post-match press conference to reflect on what was a resilient performance from his side in which they appeared much more organised that a few months ago, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
“I am very, very, very happy. We put quality in the first half when we were fresher, the right attitude for the whole match and this made the difference because in the first half we created little and conceded very little,” he said.
“We had the chance for the win. I think the result is right, regardless of the few chances granted. As regards Domenico [Berardi], the forced change is the bitter morsel of this match. Let’s hope it’s a small thing, it’s probably a muscle problem, we’ll see in the next few days.”
What differences did you see between AC Milan 100 days ago and today?
“We had to try to avoid their front line of pressure maybe by playing an aerial ball, sometimes we did it well. We tried to have a very aggressive attitude, to have the highest possible centre of gravity even in the second half we didn’t succeed.
“The match in May is a difficult match to explain because they expected two teams with different motivations. In my opinion Milan is stronger than in May, they had the drive to want to reach that goal.”
A few times Theo and Leao were ineffective: have you thought of any particular reason?
“Nothing in particular. You try to prepare it thinking about when you lose it and then when it has possession. We knew that Milan goes on a preventive attack with many players and by losing the ball, if you play forward, you put them in difficulty, in the second half we didn’t have more players with that strength in their legs to restart. I believe that if Milan did not do well today it is thanks to Sassuolo, our right-wing chain had a better defensive attitude than in other matches.”
Do you have any regret for not winning?
“With this Milan it is easier to lose, it is obvious that in a championship Milan will not win them all, every match must be played and the difficulties must be overcome. , the attitude. Some like Alvarez made their debut, Marchizza is back to play, today the negative is only the forced exit of Berardi, the goal is a shame.”
