Milan will seek to commence an improbable comeback in tomorrow’s clash with Atletico Madrid. Stefano Pioli rallied his men: “We did our usual work this morning, analyzing the individual and collective characteristics of our opponents. It is easy to find motivation for tomorrow: It is our last chance to stay in Champions League. We have been built to play in two competitions, although a few men debuted in Europe this season. We faced top-notch opponents, but we proved that we are not too far off.”
Pioli indicated what they could improve and dished on some injuries: “We are aware that we always lacked something in previous bouts. We need to be at our peak in terms of intensity, quality, and focus. Alessio Romagnoli is feeling better. We will have the same squad as in Florence plus Daniel Maldini. We are trying to recover Fikayo Tomori for Sunday’s game. He has a sore obturator muscle, which controls the movement of the hip.”
Pioli looked back at the Fiorentina match: “We can not judge a whole game from a single play. We lost because we were not as precise as usual in both boxes. Our attention and quality slipped. It was not a matter of approach, as we ran and played better than in other instances. Unfortunately, we did not score in the first half, and that is football. We need to remedy that; otherwise, the other aspects are pointless.”
Pioli did not reveal much about the lineup: “It will be mostly based on the fitness level of the players. The absence of Ante Rebic takes away an important piece. We have just three purely offensive weapons in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olivier Giroud, and Rafael Leao. I will clearly need to manage them in the next few fixtures, which are particularly meaningful.