Vincenzo Montella feels the trip to Pescara is “a very dangerous match” for Milan, who “need a humble attitude.”
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
“We’ve got Gustavo Gomez back and he was able to take part in the full training session. I have to evaluate players who crossed the ocean for international duty, like Keisuke Honda, Carlos Bacca and Cristian Zapata,” said the Coach in his Press conference.
Vincenzo Montella feels the trip to Pescara is “a very dangerous match” for Milan, who “need a humble attitude.”
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
“We’ve got Gustavo Gomez back and he was able to take part in the full training session. I have to evaluate players who crossed the ocean for international duty, like Keisuke Honda, Carlos Bacca and Cristian Zapata,” said the Coach in his Press conference.
“When we have thought that a game was easy on paper, we tended to get terrible results, such as against Udinese and Sampdoria. When we had a more difficult fixture list, we’ve actually done better.
“That makes this a very dangerous match, especially as over the last two weeks Pescara have been able to train with Zdenek Zeman and focus only on this game.
“We need the attitude of a big club, one that is humble. It’s a fundamental game to chase that Europa League spot. I remain convinced European qualification depends only on us and there are a lot of head-to-head clashes coming up.
“If we look to the start of the season, our objective was to get into Europe. You can do really well, but if the other teams do better and have more quality, they’ll finish ahead of you. I think this team did the best it possibly could.”
Lapadula returns to face the club he helped to promotion last season and has already said he won’t celebrate if he scores at the Adriatico.
“He seems calm and I evaluate every aspect when choosing my line-up, but not the emotional aspect. We need to ensure there is more movement off the ball and attacking the space, but also improving our choices in the final third.”
Gerard Deulofeu has been reborn at Milan and proved it by playing for Spain against France this week, where he came off the bench to earn a penalty and score a goal.
If the takeover of the club is completed on April 14, will Montella ask the new owners to keep Deulofeu?
“He is doing very well, but his destiny doesn’t depend on me. I think a club has to evaluate his possibilities, expectations and the side’s ambitions. It’s complicated to build a football team.”
Pescara Coach Zdenek Zeman revealed today that he asked Roma to sign Montella, but that he was fired soon after the transfer went through.
“I was at Sampdoria and was very enthusiastic about the idea of working with Zeman, but after a few days he was sacked and Fabio Capello brought in.
“Zeman helped so many good strikers find success. He’s a maestro and at times you can’t find the antidote to his football.”
Suso, Andrea Bertolacci, Riccardo Montolivo, Ignazio Abate and Giacomo Bonaventura are out of the trip to Pescara.
Milan squad for Pescara: Donnarumma, Storari, Plizzari; Antonelli, Calabria, De Sciglio, Gomez, Paletta, Romagnoli, Vangioni, Zapata; Mati Fernandez, Honda, Kucka, Locatelli, Pasalic, Poli, Sosa; Bacca, Deulofeu, Lapadula, Ocampos