Stefano Pioli believes he can leverage the quality of his players to overcome Inter in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. Although Milan will likely see Rafael Leao start on the bench, Pioli has the full squad at his disposal, except Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tommaso Pobega, as Milan seek to gain advantage ahead of the return leg next week.
Speaking to SportMediaset (via MilanNews), Pioli discussed the highly-anticipated final-four clash.
“I’ll leverage the quality of my players, their desire to be a team and by looking at the performances against Tottenham and Napoli, who have allowed us to overcome very strong opponents like those of tomorrow night.”
Leao exited the pitch early vs Lazio due to a muscular problem, and is in a race against time to make it to Pioli’s starting eleven. However, the coach himself is not too worried.
“The work he did today went well. He will be here tomorrow morning; he will push hard to understand if he can be in the match or not. If he’s called up, he can absolutely play from the start. I don’t know yet, but if he’s called up it’s because he’s capable of playing. Otherwise, we will wait for the return leg.”
Finally, he revealed his thoughts about Simone Inzaghi’s men.
“I fear nothing, but I have great respect. At these levels here we know that if you get to the semi-final of the Champions League you have great qualities. It means that we too have them and therefore we will try to field our best game possible, above all from the point of view of technical quality, tactical attention and determination.”
He didn’t give out too much when asked about the prospect of starring in the final on June 10 in Istanbul.
“There is this present, which is beautiful to live and to face. We must do it with personality, courage, determination because we have built this path and we want to do everything to keep it going.”
The Rossoneri and Nerazzurri face each other in Europe for the first time since 2005.
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