Milan coach Stefano Pioli explains where Milan need to improve and reveals he spoke to the team about the war in Ukraine: ‘We are all concerned.’
The Rossoneri host Udinese at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza tomorrow. They are the Serie A table leaders with a two-point lead over Inter and Napoli, but the Nerazzurri have a game in hand.
Stefano Pioli previewed the game at a press conference where he highlighted where Milan need to improve, especially after their 2-2 draw against last-placed Salernitana last week.
“We feel well. We made some errors in the last game and need a solid performance tomorrow,” the 56-year-old said.
“We need to focus on ourselves, we were too frenetic against Salernitana, we need to stick to the game plan; I expect to see an improvement. We can’t think about the others’ results. We must only focus on ourselves.”
Do Milan believe in the Scudetto?
“Our target is to get more points than last season; if we win the title, we’ll achieve something exceptional,” Pioli claimed.
“We’ve built a solid team, now we must make our home look nicer, adding some details and doing the best we can until the end.
“We must recover the ball quickly and be like animals. Then, when we have the ball, we must manage it wisely.
“Each one of the 13 games remaining is crucial,” Pioli continued.
“Now we focus on Udinese, a solid team that plays with intensity and with quality players up front.
“It won’t be easy to find spaces, so we’ll need to be very careful and make as few errors as possible.
Has he spoken with his players about the Russia-Ukraine crisis?
“We did, before today’s training,” revealed Pioli.
“We are all very worried. There is dismay about what is happening. If there is one thing that can unite, it is sport and therefore we must try to do our best”.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still dealing with an Achilles tendon problem, but Ante Rebic has recovered from an injury and could play tomorrow.
“I expect a lot from Ante, because he is a quality player,” said Pioli.
“He is improving and now we have three strikers available: he, Leao and Giroud. Two will always start.”
Would he renew Ibrahimovic’s expiring contract?
“First of all, it’s important to know what Ibra thinks,” the coach admitted.
“For the way that I know him, I think he wants to keep playing. His condition is improving, maybe slower than we thought, but he’s doing better. Tomorrow he will return to the pitch, he trained apart from the group these days and ran on the sand.”