Milan-Tottenham, Pioli: “We are cohesive and compact, that’s fine”

A goal from Diaz to dream a bit. Milan returns to play a round of 16 after 9 years and leaves its mark. Merit of the Spaniard, who had already scored against Tottenham when he played for the City Under 23. And one of the opponents was Oliver Skipp, starter tonight. “It was a difficult match, fought against a tough team. We were good.” This is Stefano Pioli’s thought after the match. We had a good race, but in March it will be even more difficult”. Head to London.

Cohesion

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Pioli continues: “We were careful. What we prepared succeeded. We worked well as a team. Maybe we could have done a few fewer steps back, but I’m happy. Today we were compact”. The only regret is not having scored the second goal. Milan had a couple of excellent chances through De Ketelaere and Thiaw in the second half, both within a minute. “I’m sorry we didn’t score another goal. Tottenham are strong, this is only the first stage. The second will be even more important.” Tomori out on the eve: “Yesterday during the finishing up he was fine, not today. He still had a problem and didn’t feel like playing. He was very sorry. This performance gives us morale, however. We have to be an attentive, ready team. It’s our way of playing. The month we’ve been through can happen, but we’ve always been cohesive.”

CDK

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Among the things that worked the most was “Theao”, the tandem between Hernandez – now captain – and Rafael Leao. “We wanted to attack with quick pairs on the outside, it went well.” A comment also on De Ketelaere, on the pitch with a quarter of an hour to go: “He needed time to fit in. He’s fine now. When he came on I told him “it’s your chance, you’ll score goals, trust me”. I’m happy for him.” Pioli concludes: “We tried to be aggressive, then it’s clear that the whole match like this is difficult. It’s what we have to do. We had a break that was too long for what our qualities are. This victory is fundamental for morale. Perhaps we weren’t used to all these expectations that we have created for ourselves, we are a little discouraged, but I am convinced that we will return to playing the football we like.

Thiaw

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Great game from Thiaw, second in a row as owner: “Malick had a great game, he was good, I see how he works in training. Kalulu’s example teaches. These guys should be expected, it happened with Pierre and Leao “I’ve always had faith in my boys. This match is the best of my career in the Champions League.”