Milan director Paolo Maldini claims the Rossoneri’s haven’t lost confidence despite their defeat against Liverpool and reveals he wanted Manuel Locatelli to stay at the club.
The Rossoneri face Juventus at the Allianz Stadium. It kicks off at 20.00 UK time.
Milan have won three games from three, while Juventus only collected one point from their opening three Serie A games of the season.
However, the Diavoli lost their Champions League clash with Liverpool on Wednesday, while the Old Lady beat Malmo.
“It’s an important game for us, we haven’t lost confidence despite the defeat against Liverpool,” Maldini told DAZN.
“We still want to impose something, don’t be passive and improve with young players who have more experience now. We feel stronger than last season.”
Alessio Romagnoli and Franck Kessié start for the Rossoneri in Turin while the club is negotiating with their agents to extend the players’ contracts expiring in 2022.
“Romagnoli is a professional, a team that plays Champions League football must have 15-16 starters, Alessio is one of those,” Maldini said.
“We’ve been talking to Kessié’s agent for a year and a half, there had many chances [to talk to him] and there will be more.”
Manuel Locatelli, a product of Milan academy, starts in the middle of the park for the Bianconeri.
“I arrived at Milan in the same week that Locatelli was sold, we asked him to stay at Milan, but we wanted to leave,” Maldini revealed.
Locatelli joined Sassuolo in a €14m deal in 2019. Last summer, he moved to Turin on an initial loan deal with an option to buy for €25m plus €12m add-ons.
“Only those who want to stay remain at Milan,” Maldini added. Manuel’s path was not for the kind of team we wanted and he made the right choice by joining Sassuolo”.