Malick Thiaw will have all his ‘friends and family’ in the stands when playing for Milan against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, but reveals Christian Pulisic was even more helpful in strategizing.
It kicks off at the Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).
This is a special game for Thiaw, who was born in Dusseldorf, just 50km from Dortmund, and therefore sees this as a real homecoming event.
“It is very nice for me, all my friends and family will come to see the game. It is also very nice to play near to home in Germany,” the Germany international told Milan TV.
“I played for Schalke, there has always been a big rivalry between Schalke and Dortmund.”
There is someone who knows the strengths and weaknesses of Borussia Dortmund even more and that is Pulisic, who came through their youth academy until moving to Chelsea in 2019.
“I told them that they have one of the biggest fanbases in the world and I think Christian knows even better than me, he spoke to the guys even more than me.”
Milan held Newcastle United to a 0-0 draw in their opening Champions League group game, one of four clean sheets in eight official games this season.
“All of the defenders love to keep clean sheets, we will try our best tomorrow not to concede goals, to make the fans and us happy.”