READING – “What has been lost and we must improve. We must do things better, and try to win the next one. Improve the defensive phase? Well. We were the second best defense in Europe… Okay. We can talk about many things. They individually are a good team. We have defects like everyone else. We can improve, yes, we can be perfect, no. Congratulations to Milan, they played their game, so the reason tonight is theirs because they won. The evaluations are much better for you at it. I have to manage how to raise my head of my boys. When you win and when you lose you have to continue to grow and improve.”
WHERE TO START AGAIN – “On the mentality. It’s something that we as a young team need. Normally after the match I talk to the boys, today I didn’t speak, it wasn’t the moment. What do you say to the boys after you play a game like this and lose 1-3? This doesn’t happen many times. Well done to Milan for playing the game they did, well done to their goalkeeper, well done to Rabiot and… That’s it. You have to say “well done” to them on an individual level. I liked my team a lot. We studied Milan, there were a couple of things where they could hurt you and they hurt you in one of the things we talked about. So, nothing bad, but above all with defeat we grow more and we have a lot of room to grow.”
ATTITUDE – “I think this is the most important thing. I talk after the games, not today because it was a difficult, special moment, because the boys did many things well, they fought until the end, they created, they perhaps deserved more. Going today to talk… what can you say to them? Today you have to go to sleep with that frustration that must be managed, think, and talk tomorrow with a clear head, that the sky will start to open, the sun will come out because there is another important match on Monday”.
RESULT – “If this doesn’t bother you, it’s better not to play or not be part of football. But today it’s also my responsibility, I have to be clear-headed to send the right message, because if I come here annoyed I can use words that I’ll think about tomorrow. I’m proud of the boys. As a coach I can complain about few things to my boys, because if we played it like this again we’d win this match. The people with the results will like this match. Those who like watching football will think that Como wins it 8 times out of 10.”
LEVEL – “That we play a beautiful match but we lose it by conceding 3 goals. There were only 2 options in favor of Milan in this match: either by losing balls which they then transformed into a counterattack, or with a play by some champion. They score a goal on the first play of the first, while the second comes from a turnover, transition, goal. But we talked about these two points. It hurts, but we have to keep working.”
LESSON – “We played well before and after Milan’s lead. When you make 700 passes and Milan 200 it’s not a very normal thing. It’s true that Rabiot and Maignan, oh my, they played a sensational game, they win you the match with two actions, then you have to go home, accept it, but this doesn’t mean that we didn’t play well in the second half. It’s true that we are short in terms of players, but the team has found us. By playing like this, football must give you more than that that Milan gave you tonight but we have to continue”.
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