Roma's Stephan El Shaarawy “will always be grateful” to Milan, and won’t celebrate if he scores against them on Sunday.
The forward began his career with the Rossoneri, but injury problems limited his impact and, after a failed loan spell at Monaco, he was sold the capital club.
“For me Milan was the crowning of a dream, as it would be for any fan,” El Shaarawy told Sky.
“With Milan I scored my first Serie A goal, my first goal in the Champions League. Significant milestones which made me the player I am.
Roma's Stephan El Shaarawy “will always be grateful” to Milan, and won’t celebrate if he scores against them on Sunday.
The forward began his career with the Rossoneri, but injury problems limited his impact and, after a failed loan spell at Monaco, he was sold the capital club.
“For me Milan was the crowning of a dream, as it would be for any fan,” El Shaarawy told Sky.
“With Milan I scored my first Serie A goal, my first goal in the Champions League. Significant milestones which made me the player I am.
“I’ll always be grateful to the Rossoneri and Sunday will be a very special match. I haven’t celebrated the two goals I’ve scored against them, and I won’t if I score on Sunday, out of respect.
“Milan have revolutionised their team and made great choices, quality players have arrived and I think the results will come.
“We’ll find a very tough team who are looking for redemption so it’ll take the very best Roma to beat them.
“We can give a strong signal for the league, this will be the second direct clash with a rival. Above all it could serve as a signal for ourselves, to show that we’re working well and to make it clear how far forward we are.”
El Shaarawy is an Italian international, and is looking to get back into the Azzurri squad for this summer’s World Cup.
“That would be the main goal for me, because I’ve never played at the World Cup. That would be a great dream to achieve.
“This season it will be important to do well with Roma and the national team to try and earn a place at the World Cup.
“We’ll need to prepare well, but this team is united to try and win matches.”