Director Paolo Maldini is ‘very proud’ to see Milan stars Theo Hernandez, Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao shine at the World Cup, while the club ‘needs to be more ambitious’ after winning the Scudetto.
The Rossoneri are currently in Dubai for their warm weather training camp during the break for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Serie A fixtures kick off again from January 4, while Stefano Pioli’s men will also deal with the Italian Super Cup against Inter and the Champions League Round of 16 with Tottenham.
“The team is training well and we’ll have many games, so the objective is to be ready for January 4. The warm weather also helps those who are injured to recover quicker and it’s the ideal conditions for double training sessions,” Maldini told Milan TV.
“We can and must be protagonists in all four tournaments, because these are going to be six very intense months. We must face these competitions in the Milan style and that means we always want to win.
“It’s no secret the Champions League is our most important target, but also the most difficult to achieve, but for now we’ll take it one step at a time.
“In February the matches with Tottenham will tell us a great deal on what our journey in the Champions League could be.”
There will be two Milan players participating in the World Cup Final in Qatar on Sunday, as Theo Hernandez and Giroud have been decisive for France.
“I haven’t heard from them, I only spoke to Rafael Leao,” replied Maldini. “On international duty you never know what the schedule is, so I prefer to let them enjoy this incredible moment in their careers like participating in a World Cup, a truly fantastic even for a player. We’ll meet up when it’s the right time.”
His performances and goal in the semi-final against Morocco saw many people call Theo Hernandez the best left-back in the world.
“He deserves so much of the credit himself. He had an extraordinary start to his career, then lost his way a little bit. He decided to come to Milan, giving up a lot of money from his previous contract, challenged himself and rediscovered that spark a player of his quality needs.
“In my view, he can and must still improve a great deal. In his own way, he is a unique player.”
While Theo Hernandez and Giroud shone for France, Rafael Leao was only ever a substitute for Portugal.
“Rafa still played his part, as two goals in the World Cup are not to be sniffed at. It’s unfortunate he didn’t play very much, but I still think it was a great experience for him at the top level.
“Olivier and Theo were protagonists with France from the start and really proved themselves. We are very proud to see them about to start a World Cup Final.”
Milan are the reigning Serie A champions and sit second in the table behind Napoli going into the winter break.
“Our three-year project started in 2019 aiming to become competitive again and it culminated in the Scudetto. Naturally, we are talking about Milan, so we cannot simply rest on our laurels after one Scudetto, we need to be more ambitious.”