Stefano Pioli is desperate for Milan to shrug off the stress of recent failures and focus on delivering a performance against Napoli. Rossoneri head to southern Italy to take on the reigning champions on Sunday after a morale-crippling week.
No one can argue Milan performed well in a 1-0 home defeat to Juventus last weekend despite the visitors’ numerical advantage following Malick Thiaw’s first-half red card. However, numerous defensive mistakes in midweek Champions League action led to a humiliating 3-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
If it weren’t for Mike Maignan, Milan could’ve conceded five or six at the Parc des Princes. PSG had too much time and space to exploit as Pioli’s backline looked disoriented, especially in the second half. In addition to an underwhelming defensive performance, Rossoneri failed to score in another Champions League fixture.
Back-to-back defeats, accompanied by scoring blanks, for the first time this season put Milan under pressure ahead of their trip to Napoli. But Pioli wants his men to overcome a torrid spell and find a way out of crisis at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
“You can’t think about what we’re going to do in May or next year. You have to live in the present and the next game is the most important,” the Milan coach said, as quoted by Calciomercato.
“This week, the games didn’t go the way we wanted, we made mistakes that we made less in the past and we paid dearly for them. Tomorrow is an opportunity to show that we are a better team.“
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