Milan defender Mattia Caldara feels he ‘owes the club’ after his long injury layoff and wants to help them qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Caldara has only just started turning out for Milan after an injury-plagued start to his spell at San Siro, and he revealed just how important finishing in the top four would be to him.
“For me, it would mean a lot,” the 24-year-old told Sport Mediaset.
Milan defender Mattia Caldara feels he ‘owes the club’ after his long injury layoff and wants to help them qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Caldara has only just started turning out for Milan after an injury-plagued start to his spell at San Siro, and he revealed just how important finishing in the top four would be to him.
“For me, it would mean a lot,” the 24-year-old told Sport Mediaset.
“it would go from a season to forget to a season to remember. I want to lend a hand to Milan and help them qualify for the Champions League after being away from it for a few years.
“For me, it would feel like a massive relief because I feel that I owe the club, the fans and the Coach as being injured meant I couldn’t give what I wanted to the team.
“We believe in the Champions League, we are fourth in the table and while it’s true that we have had a few disappointing results lately, we have qualification in our hands. It just depends on us now.”
Talk then turned to Wednesday’s Coppa Italia defeat to Lazio, where teammates Tiemoue Bakayoko and Franck Kessie were racially abused by some sections of the Lazio support yet play was allowed to continue.
“Of course we heard them,” he admitted.
“Every time they touched the ball, they could hear the whistles and jeers. Unfortunately, it’s something that hurts Italian football.
“It's not the players who have to point these things out to the referee. There are people in charge who must take care of these matters, but unfortunately it happened anyway and it was horrible to see.”
Caldara has already played for Atalanta and Juventus, so does he plan on changing clubs again this summer?
"I absolutely want to stay here because I couldn’t give what this club deserve and now that I’m fit, I really hope I can,” he asserted.