Pioli: “Ibra is a winner from Monday to Sunday. It won’t be easy to start again without him”

Fourth place was, and fourth place was destined to remain, given the results of others. Milan were therefore called upon to find the stimuli in other ways to end the season in the best possible way in front of the 72,000 crowd at San Siro. For example, as Pioli had said on the eve, if the Diavolo won, they would have been the second best in the tournament for points won at home (43 against 45 for Napoli). But, in general, it was necessary to honor this season right up to the end, perhaps becoming the epitaph on Verona’s salvation ambitions, something that would have given the Rossoneri fans a certain amount of satisfaction: fatal Verona transformed into fatal Milan. This was not the case, Hellas will go to the playoff with Spezia but in reality this was above all an evening with very strong Rossoneri colors, with the farewell of Ibra and the magnificent show of Leao.

Mentality

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Pioli has already christened it a season of 7, but the numbers for this time leave the time they find because Zlatan takes them all away, who in Milan has enjoyed over the years inflating them more and more. Pioli recounts after the match: “He helped a lot on and off the pitch. He has been a point of reference for me, he has an incredible mentality, he is a winner from Monday to Sunday and he has helped to make a young group like ours understand many things. He has not only shown that he is a great champion, but a personality suited to a certain type of environment. He is a person with whom I have often confronted, the comparisons have been constant and have not always been easy, but I knew I was doing it with a high-level person, who always says what he feels and feels and speaks for the good of the team . Sometimes I spoke little and listened a lot, sometimes we even discussed… but it was all very nice for me. He is a champion, I’m very sad because I won’t be able to coach him anymore. We were all moved. He hadn’t quite announced his intentions to us. Until yesterday he was the first to arrive at Milanello and the last to leave. And that makes the difference. What will he do now? I spoke to him a while ago, he wasn’t in sight as a coach. Whatever he will do, he will do well. He has too many skills. He’s so good that everyone is ready to be a team even without him. And without him it won’t be easy to start again “.

“Charles clever boy”

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However, Milan has already been able to demonstrate that they can do things right even when their pack leader isn’t around. Pioli reflects: “The path is important, you always have to remember where you started from. We have raised the bar now, we have to think big and think of being competitive in all competitions, knowing that few succeed. The merits belong to everyone, first of all to the club: without solidity, planning and support, you won’t go anywhere. Now the group is no longer young, it has shown that it knows how to take certain responsibilities. I don’t think a path ends, you have to continue it to grow and try to win something. De Ketelaere? He’s a very intelligent and helpful boy, he understood where he was missing and where he could give more. It’s right that we expect a lot, when you play for Milan it’s right that there are expectations.” The closure is due to the Diavolo’s excellent home seasonal data, which does not only concern points and which Milan proudly communicates: in the 26 games played at the Meazza there was an average of 71,607 spectators for a total of 1,861,782 people.