Stefano Pioli explains why Milan should believe in their Champions League ambitions against Atalanta, but Ante Rebic ‘is more out than in’ due to injury.
It kicks off on Sunday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for a match preview.
The Rossoneri had the chance to secure a top four finish by beating Cagliari, but were held to a 0-0 draw.
Now they must beat Atalanta to be sure of their place, otherwise hope Juventus or Napoli slip up.
Stefano Pioli explains why Milan should believe in their Champions League ambitions against Atalanta, but Ante Rebic ‘is more out than in’ due to injury.
It kicks off on Sunday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for a match preview.
The Rossoneri had the chance to secure a top four finish by beating Cagliari, but were held to a 0-0 draw.
Now they must beat Atalanta to be sure of their place, otherwise hope Juventus or Napoli slip up.
“We spoke all season about turning points, the team is motivated and will give its all. The final table will give its verdict,” said Pioli in his press conference.
“There is a mixture of emotions in us: tension, excitement, concentration. We have everything it takes to prepare this game.
“Milan must believe in ourselves because we proved all season that we are a strong team. Atalanta deservedly reached the Champions League for the third year running, while we are called for the final push.
“Atalanta will play at the best of their abilities, and so must we. Our motivation is at the maximum for the club, individuals and our fans. This is the moment to stay united.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Matteo Gabbia are out injured, but the choice seems to be between Ante Rebic and Rafael Leao.
“Rebic is more out than in right now. We’ll see tomorrow morning, but the others are all in good shape,” explained Pioli.
“Rebic has a calf issue and was not able to go through an entire training session this morning. All 26 players will go to Bergamo tomorrow, all the staff, the whole club. The fans won’t be with us, but everyone else is taking part.
“We need to be very strong mentally, as there will be difficulties and we must be sharp to overcome those obstacles and continue playing our football.
“The club has always been behind us with great confidence in our work and they maintain we are on the right track.”
It has been said that Milan could’ve challenged for the Scudetto without the numerous injury problems they sustained.
“Injuries certainly made a difference this season, especially as in some games we were missing entire groups of players in a single area of the team. When still in Europe, that meant we couldn’t rotate and those who were hurt didn’t have the opportunity to recover fully. We had games with six, seven or eight players missing, so the timing was the worst thing.”
Atalanta are one of the only clubs that Pioli has never beaten on the Milan bench.
“That’s because they are a very strong team and last season we weren’t at their level. We’ve got a lot closer and hopefully tomorrow can prove we are capable of beating anyone.
“Right now, we are in the Champions League and deservedly so, but what matters is where we’ll be tomorrow night. This is a team that has never shown fear. Fear is like fire, you can control it to feel warm or it can burn you.
“We’ve had other such delicate games and the team always showed a positive mental attitude. We never let our heads drop and I saw the right response this week.
“We mustn’t think about what we could’ve done, but on what we must do tomorrow. Our future is tomorrow, the rest doesn't matter."