AC Milan, Pioli already files the knockout in La Spezia and believes in the comeback against Inter
Milan, Pioli believes in a comeback against Inter Milan
After the 2-0 loss against Spezia Stefano Pioli already has his head turned to next Tuesday’s Champions League return derby against Inter. The Milan coach was called to report with the team at the end of the match by the Rossoneri ultras gathered in the guest sector.
“They just spurred us on,” said Pioli, who then added, “It was a balanced game, we had a good first half, but after their goal we disbanded. In any case, the performance was below our possibilities. We lacked continuity during the match, we needed more pace and speed. It is clear that the Champions League may have weighed on us, we have it on our minds. However, we have to believe in it even if only by playing our soccer, the one we know we can express, can we hope to turn the situation around next Tuesday. The result of the first leg does not give us any advantage but we have to believe. We have to come back from two goals, so we need to make sure that the episodes are to our advantage. We don’t have many chances left to make this season positive.”
On the other hand, the coach of the hosts Leonardo Semplici: “Congratulations go to the boys, the victory is theirs. I had asked them for something different: the commitment had always been there, but playing a good match is no longer enough. We changed the module to 3-5-2 because of the strength of the team we were facing. For me, it is not the modules that count but the occupation of space. We had to defend with a few more players and be more compact. We allowed little to a strong team like Milan and then made an extraordinary second half. We responded on the field to the moment that saw us in a results crisis. However, we haven’t done anything, there are three games left and we have to play them at our best. We cannot afford to lose this category, I asked them for a show of responsibility. The character of this group came out, while the performance had already been there. In Lecce we go to do our competition, knowing that bringing home a result from there will be very difficult.”
