Thiago Silva discussed his emotions ahead of his return to San Siro and gave his thoughts on some of the Milan squad.
The Rossoneri are hoping for a better result against the Blues tomorrow after suffering a painful 3-0 loss in West London last week. It was a humbling defeat for Stefano Pioli and their squad, but they bounced back well with 2-0 win over Juventus on Saturday. A win for both sides is key is they fight for a spot in the Champions League Round of 16.
Speaking in a press conference, Silva first commented on if he’d like to end his career with Milan.
“I have already made my history here at Milan so this isn’t the case here anymore at the moment. If this could’ve happened, it should’ve been before I joined Chelsea. But who knows, I will have to see then.”
He spoke about how it felt to return to San Siro.
“I’m very happy and excited to be here again 11 or 12 years after my last time. All the good experiences I’ve had here came back to my mind and tomorrow I will be even more excited and moved. It is going to be a great emotion.
“I don’t think Milan are not highly competitive. They had a bad game last week against us, that can happen, but great clubs like Milan won’t do it twice.
“They had a great result against Juve so they are strongly motivated to do a great match tomorrow night and I can tell myself and the team that we will need to make great efforts because it is never going to be easy to play here at San Siro against Milan.”
Silva discussed the growth of Fikayo Tomori at Milan and the emotions ahead of tomorrow’s game.
“For sure Tomori. I have met him and stick with him for some months before he joined Milan. I knew it wouldn’t have been easy for him to change country and culture but he proved to be very good.
“He has consolidated his ability and skills and I always say for a defender, the best football school you could have is here in Italy. I’m happy for him because he is a very developed and grown up player.
“There is great emotion tomorrow night. My wife was very moved when we were in London and we played against Milan. So tomorrow night, my wife will cry but in the end I hope we will be able to laugh together after a win. That is the most important part of tomorrow.”
Finally, Silva highlighted more of Milan’s dangers ahead of the Champions League clash.
“Tomorrow is is going to be a very difficult match. It will be difficult for us to defend. On Leao, we’ll have to be very focused and make sure he can’t get the ball. If they give him the ball, they will be dangerous because if he gets the ball, they can score.
“And it’s not only him because Giroud is in the box. It’s not going to be easy but that is why we have to be focused. Theo is a very good player, one of the best on the left side. He is also very good at defending.
“We have to be careful of the whole squad because a good team is not only one, two, three good players. It’s the whole squad who work well so we have to be focused on all of them.”
Milan and Chelsea are both tied on four points in Group E, one point behind leaders RB Salzburg, so defeat tomorrow could spell disaster in the fight for a Round of 16 spot.