AC Milan defender Fikayo Tomori believes that he and his team-mates are even stronger heading into the new season, with a two-fold goal awaiting the Rossoneri.
Tomori spoke exclusively to La Gazzetta dello Sport from the Rossoneri’s preseason retreat in Villach, Austria, and he spoke about a number of topics starting with the win against Sassuolo to clinch the Scudetto win.
“When did I realise we were going to win it? Only when Kessie scored the third goal against Sassuolo on the last day,” he said (via MilanNews).
“We are happy, but we start from 0 points like the others, not from 86. We will have to fight more. We are the champions, everyone will want to beat us.”
A difficult season awaits for Milan as they must look to win the Scudetto again and rack up number 20 and a second star but also go further in the Champions League after finishing bottom of the group last season. Tomori has confidence in himself and his team-mates.
“We feel stronger considering everyone’s trust. We have the feeling that we can do something special. We have already done it, but now we have a different pressure. We have to repeat ourselves,” he said.
“In these days we worked harder than last year, we have to be ready. Do the bookmakers say we are behind Inter and Juve? They said it last year too.”
As mentioned, there is the dream to go further in Europe for this young group to really show how much they have developed, and Tomori recalled his memories from the competition.
“I remember the final in Athens, I remember Manchester and also Istanbul. I knew that this club is special, especially in the Champions League. We are young but now we have more experience, we want to do like them,” he said.
Fabrizio Romano is reporting that talks have been progressing since June for Tomori’s contract extension with Milan. Not only that, but he adds that the Englishman is ‘in love with the club’ and is also ‘prepared to stay for many years’.
On a renewal, Tomori said: “I want it, I like everything about Milan, even the city, the Champions League nights… Now, however, I’m focused on the pitch, we’ll see for things off the pitch.”
The former Chelsea man went on to speak about some of his team-mates, idols, and his opponents too, starting with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
“He told us ‘We must be hungry like dogs, we are first but we have not done anything’. When there is such a player in the locker room, everyone’s spirit increases,” he said.
“Maignan? How much does Mike talk! He has a great personality. Divock [Origi] is strong, he is fast, he knows how to score. Yacine [Adli] is also strong, he has a good technique, he makes the right moves. He has to learn how we play but you can see that he has quality.”
Looking ahead to the derby: “Lukaku is strong, Inter are strong but we are too. We know that the derby will be a special match.”
