Hakan Calhanoglu made it clear that he wanted to congratulate his former side Milan for an excellent Champions League campaign, despite the Rossoneri being knocked out of the competition by rivals and his current employers Inter on Tuesday night.
The Turkish international insisted that both sides did well to reach the last four of Europe’s most prestigious competition and that they both played well on Tuesday, even if the Nerazzurri eventually rose to a 3-0 win on aggregate.
“Congratulations to Milan, they too did a good job. It was a difficult game, we did a good job. I’m very happy,” he told Mediaset after the final whistle at San Siro.
Calhanoglu also wanted to make it clear that “the past is the past” and that he still has good relationships with a number of his former colleagues from his time with Milan.
He said: “Derbies are always tough, unfortunately even more so for me, but the past is the past. I get along with all my former team-mates, there is respect for Maldini and Massara. Ricky is my neighbour and we always see each other. The important thing is that there is respect.”