The Viola coach returns to “his” San Siro: “I will return to a stadium where I experienced intense and positive years, it is inevitable that I will be excited. The key will be to limit Modric”
On the one hand the emotion of returning, on the other the pressure of having to look for the result. The hours that lead Stefano Pioli to approach the night at San Siro are so intense that the coach himself does not hide the wait, but he had imagined arriving there in a different situation: “I would have liked to play this match at another time, with another ranking, but I’m not thinking about my personal emotions, which will inevitably be there because I will find a stadium where I lived intense and positive years, but I have to think about the team. In Milan there are still many players that I had in my team and I will say goodbye to them at the end of the match.” Furthermore, on Sunday evening Pioli will reach the milestone of 500 appearances on the bench in Serie A and on Monday he will turn 60: “Many coincidences and if there is a God of football I hope he has an eye for consideration” (he smiles, ed.).
modric and max
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One of the challenges will be to try to stop Luka Modric: “I met him a few years ago on holiday, we greeted each other and he introduced himself as a great Milan fan. I complimented him. There was no doubt about the quality of the player, the consistency of how he lives in matches shows that he is a champion. We will have to try to limit him. Allegri? He is a great coach, he is doing a good job. Milan have signed strong players, who excel and personality. It’s a solid formation, we will have to be qualitative and attentive. We want a performance on par with our opponents.”
kean doubt
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Fiorentina risks arriving at the away match at San Siro without Moise Kean: “A decision will be made tomorrow – explains Pioli – because today he only partially worked as a group, but we have another training session which will be decisive. He has good sensations, but until now we have avoided clashes and changes of direction”. However, in general, a high level performance is needed: “I see that Milan is missing someone but there remains a complete team and we will have to be good at playing the game. The team is growing and the months we have spent together have helped us. It is clear that in the locker room we talk about the league table and we all want to reverse the trend. We miss winning a lot and we have to do something more to be competitive and successful, then over time we will understand for what objectives. For now we need attention and compactness, it is not the time to play on pointe. I am sure that we will get out of this difficult situation and I hope so too for president Rocco Commisso.”
the choices
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There are at least three ballots, one in each department: Pongracic or Comuzzo in defense, Fagioli or Ndour in midfield, Fazzini or Gudmunsson in the attacking midfield. Piccoli will instead be the center forward if Kean is absent: “Pongarcic is well – adds Pioli – and has trained regularly as has Sohm who is much better and could be called up”. Finally, the comment on two quality men who are looking for a breakthrough: “Gudmundsson did well in the two matches with the national team and he has returned with a better physical and mental condition. I expect a lot from him because he has the qualities to do it. Fagioli is well, he is in good condition. At the beginning of the year I had thought of a slightly more directorial position for him and I believed in it a lot, but he a little less. Then if he plays on Sunday I don’t know why. There is another training”.
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