Malick Thiaw is expected to start for AC Milan against Borussia Dortmund tonight, and it is a game that he will feel a bit more than some of his team-mates.
Milan make the trip to Dortmund hoping to get their first win of their 2023-24 Champions League group stage campaign, but they face a side that have not lost at home in the competition in two years, and are unbeaten in their first six league games this season.
Christian Pulisic is someone who knows all about what to expect from the atmosphere of the Signal Iduna Park, having played at BVB for four years from 2015 to 2019, but the game will have a bit of extra meaning for Thiaw too.
He made his senior breakthrough with Schalke 04 who are Dortmund’s fiercest rivals, and he actually made his first Bundesliga start against them too.
Thiaw spoke to SportMediaset before the game to preview a return to playing in Germany, with his comments relayed by MilanNews and translated below.
What will this game mean to you?
“I was born in Dusseldorf which is quite close to Dortmund, but I’ve never been here to watch a match because I’m a Schalke fan and when I’m coming here to play was the period in which fans were not allowed to enter the stadium, so it will be the first time I will play here with the fans.”
What kind of a game are you expecting?
“Every match is important and you always have to try to do your best and get the most. And when you play for Milan it’s clear that you want to win these matches.”
What is it like playing in the Champions League?
“As a child I dreamed of playing these matches, I’m very happy to be able to do it. I will do my best to help the team win.”
You will face Marco Reus again…
“He’s a great striker, when I was in the Borussia Mönchengladbach youth team I sometimes acted as a ball boy and I had the opportunity to see him there, he’s a great player. But tomorrow he’ll be like any other and I think we have the qualities to be able to stop him.”
