Stefano Pioli assures Milan will not change their approach for Victor Osimhen or try to defend their 1-0 lead over Napoli, but he welcomes the passionate atmosphere of the crowd in this Champions League quarter-final. ‘It’ll fire both teams up.’
It kicks off on Tuesday at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).
The Rossoneri won the first leg 1-0 at San Siro thanks to a goal from Ismael Bennacer, but as the away goals rule no longer applies, they will go to extra time if the tie is level on aggregate.
“It would be a mistake to focus on defending that lead here, definitely,” said the coach in his press conference.
“Napoli have not lost at home in the Champions League for a long time, they scored an average of three or four goals in the tournament so far against teams like Liverpool, Ajax, Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt.
“We only have a minimal advantage, we need to play our game as a team and I think control the ball very well when we have it. That will be an important element.
“In both games, and I include the Serie A match, both teams created plenty of chances and caused problems for the opposition, so whoever converts the most will get through. Napoli started much stronger than us at San Siro, so that is a big lesson and we will try to change that tomorrow.”
Following more dropped points in Serie A at the weekend, the coach was asked if he would swap fourth place domestically for reaching the Champions League Final.
“We are here to play the Champions League, take it one game at a time and that would be a strong run for us. We know that our journey started three years ago and we could reach the semi-final, but a season is to be evaluated at the end and not during.”
With the possibility of a penalty shoot-out, Pioli was asked if goalkeeper Mike Maignan will take a turn on the other side and try converting one.
“We practiced penalties, as we do in all these situations. I haven’t thought about where to put Maignan. Both teams are ready if it goes to 120 minutes, this is a very important objective, a delicate match and an exciting one. We need to play at the highest level to win, we know that, but we feel able to do it.”
Milan won here 4-0 on April 2, but that was during a fan protest that saw the home crowd sit in silence or even hurling insults at their President, whereas the atmosphere will be completely different this time around.
“I think it is wonderful to play in this atmosphere, so it’ll fire Napoli up, but it’ll fire us up as well.”
There were some late injury concerns for the coach, but both Olivier Giroud and Malick Thiaw have made the trip to Naples, leaving behind only those who are not on the Champions League list anyway – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sergino Dest, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Aster Vranckx and Yacine Adli.
“Giroud had a slight problem in training, but he has overcome it and is ready to play.”
Osimhen was injured for both the first leg of the quarter-final and the 4-0 Serie A defeat on April 2, but is ready to lead the Napoli attack tomorrow.
“He is such a powerful, impressive and decisive striker, so we take his characteristics into account, but at the same time we have our own way of playing football and we won’t move away from that. We saw with previous Napoli games that a lot of it is about knowing the moment to slow down and speed up, and that is even more crucial with a player like Osimhen.”
Brahim Diaz has been particularly crucial with his performances in the Champions League and is finally beginning to deliver on that early career promise.
“I think it is clear for all to see that Brahim is improving. He is young, but very mature and can handle pressure, he is doing very well and I hope to continue working with him.”
Ahead of the first meeting, Pioli had scrapped the three-man defence and returned to a 4-2-3-1 formation. Are there any more tricks up his sleeve?
“It’ll be the third game in a few days and in both the previous ones we each took slightly different interpretations of both defending and attacking. There will be a few different players, some other positions we could take.”