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00:00Good morning everyone. Welcome along to the pre-match press conference on the eve of Milan
00:06Roma. We'll start with Milan TV. Thanks, Nicola. Good morning, coach. Coach, you're always
00:11very focused on who's available for selection, who's going to play. Can we say that tomorrow's
00:18hugely important game against Roma is almost the last match to be played without some significant
00:28absentees between the October and November international breaks and you've been missing
00:34a lot of big hitters. We have lost a few players on international duty. Unfortunately, these
00:41things happen. We are reacting as best we can and we need to try and make sure that we recover
00:47our energy as best we can in the next few days, because it's almost the same team that has
00:53been playing. But we have a wonderful match to play tomorrow against Roma, who are doing
00:58very well. Giampiero Gasperini has immediately left his mark on this team in terms of character,
01:05in terms of tactics, just as he did at Atalanta. So tomorrow it will be a difficult game against
01:11a team that has excellent players. They've got some very technical players, both in midfield
01:17and going forward. And they've won more away games than anyone else in the calendar year
01:21of 2025. They also had more clean sheets since the start of the season. They've conceded very
01:29few goals. They've only conceded four, whereas we've always conceded in each of the last three
01:33matches. So we need to do a good job tomorrow to overturn this trend. Sky. Hi coach. Could
01:41you give us the usual latest from the treatment room? Rafa Liao, Jimenez Pulisic and so on and
01:50so forth. How are they? And Nkunku has been in the club for almost two months. He wasn't fit
01:56initially, then he had an injury. Is he now a hundred percent? And could he start for the first
02:02time in Serie A tomorrow? As for the injuries, Rafa Liao is fit and healthy. He trained and
02:10he's okay. Ficaio Tomori, unfortunately, there are no issues with his knee. He's got an issue
02:18with his thigh. We'll see today. Tomori really is a guy, a player who has played matches when
02:28he's actually been injured or carrying something. So we'll see today whether he can play or not,
02:33but it looks very unlikely. As for Christian Pulisic, I think I should have him available
02:38in time for the Palma game. It's very tricky when it comes to Adrian Rabiot. Santi Jimenez
02:44has a problem with his ankle and we'll see today whether or not he's fit, whether he will be
02:52in our matchday squad. Otherwise, we'll try and get him back for Palma. Estupinian is fit
02:57again. Yashari has only trained once, so it's unlikely to see him on the bench. And I think
03:03I haven't forgotten anyone. So Christopher Nkunku. Nkunku is a fitter and it could be
03:09a game that he's involved in. He's a very technical player. We've got high hopes for him,
03:15but tomorrow's match, above all, is a game that we need to play as a team.
03:22We need to do an even better job defensively. Above all, we need to make sure we cut out
03:27the mistakes on those fine margins. For instance, the goal that we concede in Bergamo. We can't
03:32afford that against Roma, because based on the number of chances they create, they've
03:39got a very high conversion rate. Dazone.
03:45Hi, coach. Good afternoon. First and foremost, given that you've already analysed Roma, do you
03:50think that they're deservedly top of the table and can they stay up there right until the end
03:55of the season? And on Nkunku, you said he's a very technical player, but can he be the centre
04:01forward? Can he play as the target man for this team based on his skill set? Yes, I think
04:06he can do so. I think Liao can do it as well. I think we can also play without a traditional
04:11centre forward with a couple of players that play as false nines, essentially. As for Roma,
04:19they're doing a very good job and they are deservedly at the top of the table because
04:23they've only conceded four goals. They're a side that always gives you that impression
04:28that they can score at any time because they have a number of excellent players up front
04:34that have goals in their belt. As to whether they can stay up there, I don't know. It's
04:38a very long season. There are very few points between the teams at the top, so there's a number
04:42of clubs in the upper reaches. We need to be very consistent first and foremost to make
04:47sure that we come through these moments. We recover all of our players so that then we
04:52can approach the post-November international break period following the Parma game in the
04:57best possible way. Mediaset. Hi, Max. Roma can cause problems between the lines. Above all,
05:04Di Bala, a player that you know very well, you rate very highly, you've coached. How do
05:10you deal with Di Bala, who's at the top of his game at this moment in time? Paolo's technical
05:19ability is nothing new. He was only 21 years of age when he signed for Juventus. He's come
05:24on leaps and bounds. He's got a very high goals to game ratio because he really is an excellent
05:32ball. He really knows how to play the game. And when he strikes the ball towards goal,
05:37very rarely does he miss the target. So we need to do a good job to actually limit him,
05:42just like Mathias Soleil, who's improving. Brian Cristante makes runs from deep. Lorenzo
05:47Pellegrini scores goals. Roma have quality. They've got technical ability. And it's no wonder
05:56then that they're top of the table. Given that you have picked them together due to injuries
06:10or due to issues that you've faced on very few occasions, I wondered whether if tomorrow
06:17you decide to start with Rafael Liao and Christopher Nkunku. Are they a strike partnership that
06:25can work together in terms of their technical ability? They've never played together. So
06:34I'm very curious myself to see whether I might risk the pair of them together. Occasionally
06:39in football, you come up with unexpected combinations. Because when you think everything's perfect, when
06:47everything needs to go in a certain direction, then you come up with an alternative solution
06:51that no one was expecting. They know how to play football very well. So certainly they have
06:56an important skill set. It means they can ultimately dovetail. Correa La Sera. Hi, Max.
07:02I wanted to ask about Luka Modric. We've all been surprised at how many minutes he's played in
07:11Serie A, beyond even our wildest expectations. In Bergamo, for the first time, we saw him
07:18a little bit more tired. He was struggling a bit physically. What have you made of him over
07:22the last few days? Have you spoken to him? And do you need to try and manage him going forward?
07:28What's your plan with regards to Modric's playing time? Or can he always play? And that's it.
07:33No, Luka's fit. In the first half in Bergamo, besides the fact that Atalanta pressed us very
07:41high, we made a lot of technical mistakes. And we were always chasing the ball. We got possession
07:46and then we just handed it straight back to them. If I'm not mistaken, from the 18th to the 22nd
07:54minute in Bergamo, it was a four-minute period where the ball felt like a bomb and we gave
08:00it to them and they gave it to us and so on and so forth. It was four minutes of us doing
08:06that. So we need to do a better job in terms of technically. Luka is a benchmark, a leader
08:13for this team, a role model. So it's all good. I wanted to ask you, in light of what happened
08:27in the previous international break in October, do you think that everyone should leave the
08:40club? Even those that have been out for a month because Adrian Rabiot and Christian Pulisic at
08:46this stage are only playing for the national teams and not for the club. Let's see what happens.
08:52I think that Christian Pulisic will be available for selection for Palma and then we'll see whether
08:56he joins up with his country. The same goes for Adrian and everyone else. We work with the national
09:04teams and I understand and they understand the players' fitness levels because they also need
09:11healthy players that can play for them. So if the player has been out for a month then maybe they
09:16might struggle to actually be involved in a game. We are in contact with all of the head coaches of
09:21the various national teams and we inform them as to the players' fitness levels and then they'll make
09:27a decision in the best interests of their country and the player themselves. La Repubblica. Hi, coach.
09:39Allegri against Gasperini is a match with the two coaches that have more appearances than anyone else
09:45and you've also come up against each other in the Super Cup and the Coppa Italia final. What sort of
09:50matches are they when you come up against Gasperini's sides and what relationship do you have with Gas
09:56over the last few years you also played under Pescar and Gaglioni? Yes, we both came through there but
10:06it's been 35 or 40 years so I think we've come through there of course. I think Gian Piero is 66,
10:1667 years of age. I'm eight years younger than him but we have come up against each other many times. It's
10:22always very difficult to play Gasperini's sides because they stretch the pitch, they're physical
10:26teams, they really make you work hard. Fortunately, and the strange thing is that every time,
10:34even in recent years, not always but often,
10:41before we were playing against the team against Juric and then Gasperini or vice versa and you don't need to
10:47necessarily prepare the matches because the game that we played on Tuesday against Juric is Atalanta
10:52is the most physical side that we've played this season. Sport Italia, you always stress a concept
10:59namely that matches and league seasons are bubble won by those coming off the bench. However, this
11:05is a period in which you not exactly sport for choice amongst the substitutes. If Jimenez weren't
11:11available for selection tomorrow, you'd be very short-handed in attack. So what do you plan to do
11:17in that case? Would you pick your strongest team right from the first minute or do you still believe
11:23that you might want to hold something back off the bench because you believe you can win the game off
11:27the bench? We'll see today in training and then we'll see we've got players from the under 23 side,
11:36Diego Sia and Sala, players that will come from the Milan Futuro side. If we need to, they already
11:45played in the friendly in Dublin so they can give us a helping hand if we need to. The most important
11:50thing is to actually produce a good performance, be combative, play like a team and that can certainly
11:58steer the direction of the game. Hi coach. In terms of how beautiful your football is, how effective
12:12you've been, Milan obviously haven't played as well in the last two games and you haven't had
12:16too many players, you haven't been able to rotate. In terms of your footballing idea with the qualities
12:24and skill set of this team, is Adrian Rabiot indispensable or is there another player that
12:29can do his job that can quickly shift the play from defense to attack like he did in those early
12:34weeks of the season? Every player has their own skill set and asking other players that have
12:40different qualities to do what Adrian does is wrong. So with the players I have available for selection,
12:49we'll try and play in a different way. But Yusuf Fofana is improving a great deal both defensively,
12:57he started to use his body a lot more and also in terms of making late runs and breaking forward.
13:03I think Fofana can still come on leaps and bounds in terms of his self-belief to become a match winner,
13:10both in the attacking phase and scoring goals and above all defensively. He is working on that and I think
13:16he has made real progress in the last two months. Good afternoon coach. I don't know whether you
13:23heard Luciano Spalletti's press conference yesterday, but he said that he wants his Juventus side to get
13:31back into the title conversation. Juventus are three points behind Milan. Are Juventus in the title race and
13:39what do you make of Juventus under Spalletti? All I can say is the very best of luck to Spalletti
13:46on the Juventus bench. As for the title race,
13:53in terms of squads, I think Inter and Napoli are the two favourites. Napoli because they're reigning champions,
14:00Inter because they have a very strong squad. But there are a group of teams that are competing for the top four.
14:09Which includes Juventus and that's only natural. Milan are in there. Roma are in there. Lazio will get
14:15back into there. Atalanta will come back into it as well. So you need to do a very good job of being
14:22consistently. Bologna as well. Bologna having an excellent league season. Como at this moment in time.
14:27If you look at the league table today, you can see a whole host of teams in the top 10.
14:34And that's a positive for Italian football and for Serie A, which is great to watch.
14:42Ultimately, the best team will win the league. That's for sure. But we mustn't never lose sight
14:50of our main target, which is to play Champions League football. To play Champions League football,
14:57we need to work hard, blood, sweat and tears. We need to stay on an even keel. We mustn't get down in
15:01the dumps because we've had two draws in a row against Pisa and Atalanta. The most important thing
15:07is to be consistent in terms of our results because if you do get consistent results,
15:11as soon as you win a game, then you make another leap up the table. The aim is not that tomorrow
15:18you win a game and you're into the Champions League places or out of the Champions League
15:23places or you win the Scudetto. Tomorrow is another small step forward that we need to take
15:27to get to March rather than the 25th of May in the best possible conditions. As I always say,
15:34I'm a broken record in order to compete for the top four places because it's very difficult if you're
15:39a long way off in March of the top four. So the first three months of the season are important in
15:45order to lay the foundations for the end of the campaign. So you need to make sure that you're very
15:50relaxed going into that without necessarily getting overly excited as we were before Pisa. We thought
15:56that everything had been resolved. We'd win every single game because it's difficult, very difficult
16:01to win matches in Serie A and the same goes in other leagues as well. So you need to be very focused
16:07and you mustn't think too much. You need to do things. That's the most important thing.
16:10Aria. With this in mind, I noticed that the first, the top three in Serie A, Napoli, Roma and Inter,
16:23only have wins and a few defeats, whereas Milan have started to go on a run of draws and a number of
16:29other teams have had draws. Draws are precious come the end of the season. How important are they? How
16:34important is it that the team always has their mind focused on always picking up points and always
16:43making steps forward? It is important because you need to consistently get results. One important step
16:51that we made is that Tuesday in Bergamo, the last two games, I think Milan lost the last two previous
16:58encounters in Bergamo late on with the late goals. So that was a moment when the team stayed focused.
17:06In order to win matches consistently and get a good league position, you can't always get three,
17:11three, three points. There is a time when you get one, one, one, then you get three, then you get one.
17:15The most important thing is getting consistent results because you need to add up all of the points
17:23that you record over the course of a league season to get X number of points and that allows you to
17:27play Champions League football the next season. Milan vibes. Hi coach. Alessandro Florenzi gave an
17:33interview talking about Rafa Liao and he said that Rafa Liao would take the biggest step up when he
17:38realizes just how good he is. Do you agree with that? And at what stage are we with regards to Rafa
17:44realizing what a good footballer he is? It's very difficult for me to get into Rafa's mind and figure
17:54out how much he believes in his ability. But I think and I believe that after the last six weeks when
18:03Rafa trained really well, the injury held him back. He is now getting back to full fitness. He's got good
18:08spirit. He's got desire to perform well. So it's up to him and the team. All of us are helping him out.
18:14He needs to help out us as well. He is a top class footballer, but he's not yet 100% fitness. So we'll
18:26take a little bit more time. But the most important thing is that he's once again available for selection
18:31and he has a certain positive approach to the way he works. Hi coach. I'd like to come back to Luka Modric.
18:38He's a player that continues to dazzle us with this wonderful style of play and I'm amazed by what
18:46he does out of possession. Over the last two months that you've worked with him, is there something
18:50that surprised you about Modric that you didn't expect about this world-class player? Something
18:55that we don't know maybe? The thing that struck me most about Luka is his willingness to work,
19:05his humility. He immediately got down to work with the team.
19:13Defensively, the defensive midfielder in front of the defense, he's not done that much in his
19:18career. He's doing such a good job because he's so intelligent. He sees the game. When he has the
19:24ball, he knows where to play it and when he doesn't have the ball, he knows where it's going to end up.
19:27So it makes it that much easier for him. Giovanni Delia. Hi coach.
19:37A few weeks ago, as a footballing expert, you said in this period that the league table would
19:42start to take shape and that's why I'd like to ask you in terms of the way Milan are coming into this
19:48game to not lose too much ground with the top teams in the league. Can we consider it one of those four
19:55or five turning point games during the league season? No, no, it's not a turning point. Tomorrow,
20:02it's a game where we have to come up against a good team like Roma. They've conceded very few goals.
20:06As I said before, in the calendar year of 2025, they've won more league games on the road than
20:15anyone else. Gian Piero Gasperini has already given them a lot in the two, three months he's been in
20:20charge, but we mustn't lose sight of what our final goal is. We need to keep making progress, hoping to
20:28win tomorrow. But above all, we need to produce a good performance. Hi coach. I wanted to ask you
20:36about Davide Bartesaghi. He might be one of those players that you've, that's really made the most
20:43of the injury crisis. Napoli probably have the best wide players, but you know, there's Concesado
20:52do Atalanta wide plays. He's come on leaps and browns. Can we consider him one of the new
20:58starters? Where does he need to improve? Davide Bartesaghi is considered one of the
21:05starters, not in the starting eleven, but in the Milan squad. Where does he need to
21:09improve? He needs to be a bit more bold and daring above all in the final third, where he can
21:13be a match winner, because he's got a very good left foot. Hi coach. You were saying earlier on that
21:23Juric and Gasparini are often very similar games. In light of that, when Loftus-Cic came on against
21:30Atalanta, he gave us the feeling that he could hurt the opposition, he could hurt Atalanta. Could he be an
21:36option tomorrow as a centre forward or maybe in the front two? Should we now consider Loftus-Cic as a
21:42part of the group of attackers? Either part of the attackers or the attacking midfielders.
21:49Put them wherever you want. As for tomorrow, tomorrow I need to make a decision today. I've got
21:55three up top. Loftus-Cic. Nkunku and Liao. And the fourth player could be Alexi Salamac as we'll see.
22:05Last question. Hi coach. I wanted to ask you, earlier on you referred to those four minute period
22:14in Bergamo when you gave the ball to them and vice versa, almost like it was like a bomb. What I did
22:20notice is that Milan really struggled with Atalanta's physicality. How crucial could this be tomorrow
22:32against Rome? What becomes crucial above all is the way we manage the ball technically. Because
22:41when I made the joke about that four minute period, we had the ball and we managed the ball badly three
22:48or four times in the opposition half. And when you make three or four mistakes, then of course,
22:54then they grow in belief above all on the ground like Atalanta away in Bergamo. So tomorrow we need
23:00to do a very good job when there are certain spells in the match, just as there were in Bergamo and
23:06there have been in other games. In terms of how we manage possession, we mustn't be too hasty in terms
23:10of trying to move the ball quickly. Thank you very much, everyone.
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