- 17 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:01Good morning everyone. Welcome along to this pre-match press conference on the eve of Milan
00:05Coma. We'll start with Milan TV. Thank you, Nicola. Good morning, coach. On the eve of
00:10Milan Coma, I wanted to ask you the following. At this stage of the season, at this current
00:17moment in Italian football, how important is it for Milan to stay focused on their own
00:22matches on their own individual situation? It's important because we're into the final
00:30three months of the season. And this is where the league season will be determined, the title,
00:39the Champions League places, the relegation battles. So there's no scope for mistakes,
00:46no margin for error, very little, because we don't have too much time to make points up.
00:52It will be a difficult game tomorrow against Coma because they're still battling for a
00:56Champions League place. They've got a game in hand just like we do tomorrow. So we need to do a
01:00very
01:01good job in terms of staying focused and prepare for this game as best we can. Sky, usual two questions.
01:10How are Pulisic and Salamakas and could he start the game? But the second question for you as someone
01:20who's experienced in football, what have you made of the last weekend? You love Italian football. How
01:26can we improve and get better and avoid all the controversy we've seen over the last few days?
01:31As for the latest in the treatment room, I'll start with Rabiot who's suspended. Everyone else is fit and
01:38available. Salamakas is available for selection. Pulisic is still struggled a little bit. I hope he is in the
01:46matchday squad. Everyone else is fit and as I said, Santi Jimenez is working very well, so we'll have him
01:52back as soon as possible with the squad. As for what happened on Saturday evening in the game between
02:02Inter and Juventus, I think a lot of people have spoken about this already. It's pointless to keep
02:07talking about it. Above all for us, we need to stay focused on what our goal is. We mustn't waste
02:13any
02:14energy, mental energy on what's come to pass. We have a game tomorrow, which is an important match
02:21and we need to make sure that we deal with unforeseen circumstances when they arise during football
02:26matches. We mustn't get distracted by these situations. They've always been part of football.
02:33They're still a part of football and they always will be. So the most important thing is that there
02:39are people who are qualified to deal with this. They're working to try and improve the situation
02:46with regards to VAR and, as I said many times, with regards to objectivity. Everything else is
02:52subjective and subjective. Some people think it's white or black, yellow or red, but those are things
03:00that people can have an opinion on, but objective things are not up for debate. What matters to us
03:06is tomorrow's game and the points on offer because we still have three months to go and we have a
03:11goal
03:12in mind that we're trying to secure and we need to take another small step forward tomorrow.
03:18Gazzetta. Hi, I wanted to ask you about Rafa Liao. Before the Bologna away game, no, before the Pisa game,
03:26you said that you were wary of whether to bring him off the bench or to start him and then
03:32we saw him
03:33come off the bench and it didn't feel like he was at the peak of his powers, but you see
03:37him day in,
03:38day out on the training ground. Could you give us an update on Rafa's fitness levels? What percentage is he?
03:46You're asking me a percentage. I struggle with percentages because it's always difficult to do
03:50so and to quantify. Let's say he's fit and well. He had a good training session yesterday. Rafa Liao
03:57is a player just like Christian Pulisic and the other guys, but above all, these two players are those that
04:03have had a season where they have had some physical issues and they still have scored
04:09because Rafa has scored some important goals. Pulisic has scored some important goals and at the
04:13end of the season, three weeks to a month from now, when everything will change
04:20in terms of matches will change completely and you'll need those technical players like them,
04:26they'll certainly do a very good job for Milan. Hi Max. Of course, I'm going to go back to what
04:36happened in terms of the last weekend. You've already spoken about VAR, but I'd like to ask you
04:41about the referees themselves. They're different in terms of the referee that actually goes out there
04:45on to the pitch in the middle. Is Luciano Spalletti right in saying we need to make referees
04:51professional. Do you think that's the issue that the referees are currently the only amateurs out
04:56there on the pitch? I don't know whether we necessarily need to make referees professionalism
05:02or not, but as I said from the other day, Serie A is a wonderful league. These things have always
05:12happened and they will always be part of Serie A. But I said the other day, we've actually even gone
05:19as
05:19far to analysing the situation that came to pass in the English Premier League. So maybe we need to
05:25actually look at ourselves in the mirror and wonder whether the games are more important
05:31and the technical ability on display or the referee's decisions. Rather than actually going and looking
05:40what a player or a coach might have got wrong in terms of decision making from a technical tactical
05:47perspective and so on and so forth, we always pile in on the referees. And I think it would be
05:54very important to actually take some pressure off the match officials. It's not easy because in the
05:59match context it's very challenging, but the referees are now younger across the board on average and
06:08so it's not easy at all for them. But what I will say is this following.
06:15I think there's a lot of pressure in Italy because Champions League qualification for an Italian side
06:24really is a matter of life and death from an economic perspective. And that's why when you get to
06:30stage, this stage of the season, the pressure increases even more. So we need to keep a cool head
06:36and we need to stay focused on what our final goal is. Because that's what it ultimately all comes down
06:42to.
06:43Mediaset.
06:43Mediaset.
06:44Mediaset.
06:45Mediaset.
06:45Mediaset.
06:45Mediaset.
06:46Mediaset.
06:46Mediaset.
06:48You're once again up against Cesc Fabregas and so people will again spark the debates about
06:55those that focus on results and those that focus on playing pretty football. Fabregas didn't
06:59take the reverse fixture very well, losing 3-1. He left the press room saying,
07:03oh, if we were to replay this game ten times, we'd have won it eight times out of ten.
07:10And those that focus on results will be pleased about this. What do you make of this debate?
07:16I don't think it's a debate. First and foremost, let's say that Como and Fabregas are doing an
07:22excellent job because they are in the hunt for Champions League football. They're currently in
07:27the European places and they are competing for a top four finish, but they've done a really good
07:32job in a short space of time. So all we can do is congratulate them. But these are football matches.
07:39There are times when you play well, when you play less well. And ultimately,
07:43us at Milan, what we try to do is secure a result. That's the most important thing. We like to
07:50try
07:50and do so via performances. There are better performances, less good performances, but we have
07:56a target that we're trying to achieve, namely Champions League football.
08:03I wanted to ask your opinion about simulation. I'm not only referring to Alessandro Bastoni,
08:12which is obviously sparked a lot of debate, but I'm also thinking about the past weekend,
08:17Fabiano Parisi against Como, making a meal of very limited contact. Can we still tolerate this
08:27simulation? How can we limit it? People talk about fines or even actually the referee booking players.
08:37How can we bring down the number of simulations? Because I actually think that this is getting worse.
08:47I'll come back to what I was saying earlier on about VAR. What I would say is football has become
08:51very fast and it's not easy for referees to officiate because the speed at which the ball moves,
08:58the physicality of the players is completely different to what we saw 30 to 40 years ago.
09:04So what do we need to do? We need to improve VAR. And we need to find some solutions as
09:14we're trying
09:14to do, and I'm sure that's what they're currently doing, to try and improve VAR. You won't find that
09:19overnight, but you need to experiment. In the meantime, let's try and move more towards objectivity.
09:26What is objectivity? I'll finish with this point because I don't want to talk about VAR after this, but
09:36something that must be changed is when there is an offside and then offside leads to a corner,
09:44you can't then concede the corner because then you can actually score a goal from the corner because
09:50the corner actually means the ball's going into the box. I said this 15 years ago. That's why VAR needs
09:54to work on objectivity. But as you said to me, Nicopas, and I didn't see that, and Bastogne,
10:03that's subjective. Parisi, I apologize. That's subjective. That's up to the referee's discretion,
10:10and you can't do anything about that. So there they need to understand whether the VAR needs to
10:15intervene, how they intervene. I don't know how to do that because I still struggle to actually pick
10:19my starting 11. So you can only imagine how I'd go about refereeing. Is there a job to do on
10:25the
10:25players themselves? The players. There are some situations whereby if football's not easy, it's not
10:34easy to explain football. You can't actually indoctrinate everyone. Football is great because
10:42the weakest can beat the strongest. And it's only natural that what happened on Saturday is sad to
10:51see for everyone. But I think the people that were the saddest were the actual protagonists,
10:56the stars out there on the pitch. Because now we want to have an excellent end to the season because
11:04the best thing about all of this is Serie A as a whole, Italian football. The fact that objectively and
11:10realistically, Milan are the only team that can still actually keep the title race going,
11:17does that give you as an individual and as your team more pressure or greater honor based on where
11:23you were this time last season? Besides the fact we're not the only team in the title race because
11:29there are still 14 games remaining and things can change very quickly in the space of two weeks.
11:35One team can draw two in a row and another team can win two in a row, so that's a
11:40four-point swing
11:41already. So we need to be very careful about that, both up near the top and indeed down at the
11:48bottom
11:49of the Serie A table. As for us, I've already said so, we must in no way waste energy on
11:57external factors.
12:00Whatever happens, we need to make sure that we stay focused on what we have to do and above all,
12:04we need to keep our eyes on the prize, the 25th of May. Yes, exactly. You need the blinkers,
12:12just as if you were a horse. Sport Italia. So I'd like to come back to this once again
12:21because you were there, you were involved in 2018 in the famous Scudetto which was lost in the hotel
12:27by Sarri after your Juventus side beat Inter late on by three goals to two and
12:33sadly said it was a shame because we went out on to pitch on Florence and we were dead inside.
12:40Are you
12:40not worried about something similar happening given what happened on St Valentine's Day? Have you spoken
12:45to the team in the dressing room? How are you experiencing this? Why should we be dead inside?
12:52We're doing good things. At this moment in time, Inter are the clear favourites to win the Scudetto.
13:01They started as favourites along with Napoli. At this moment in time, they're even more favourites,
13:07they're clear favourites. So we need to chase our target. There are still a number of points
13:15to be played for. They're going quickly behind us. Juventus 46, Roma 47, Napoli 50, Coma 41. So it
13:27depends on what we do tomorrow. So we need to stay very calm. We need to focus on the job
13:31we have to
13:31do. Once we've secured our target of Champions League football, then we'll see where we are.
13:35A couple of questions about St Valentine's. Coma had that banner,
13:42one better one day with Fabregas as opposed to a hundred days under Allegri or would you prefer
13:50a romantic dinner with Adriano Gagliani? Adriano and I are friends. We've known each other for many
13:58years. So when we can, we see each other, we have a chat about everything and you can only learn
14:03from
14:03Adriano Gagliani. And he's a wonderful person. And he's the first Milan fan, first and foremost.
14:11I'll say that openly because the first message when we win is always from Adriano Gagliani.
14:19Now there's another ownership group. There's some excellent senior management figures here
14:24that are working for the best of Milan. As for the banner, it's a bit of banter, but that's all
14:30good.
14:31Calciomercato.com. Passi, per favore.
14:42Hi, coach.
14:48You mentioned earlier on that Adrian Rabiot will be missing tomorrow. He's a crucial player. It's
14:53pointless talking about the relationship you have with him and what he's offered already. How do you
14:59make up for his absence? Above all, having built a team with a certain balance thanks to his ability
15:06and could Samuel Ricci be his replacement or would it be Loftus-Cheek?
15:12As for the starting eleven, I haven't yet made a decision because Arden Yashari is looking very good.
15:17So I need to weigh up as to who's going to start the game.
15:23Adrian is doing great things. He's come on leaps and bounds in a bubble. He has improved
15:29technically, tactically, physically, but also from a mental perspective. But we have a team full of
15:35important players and whoever plays tomorrow will certainly play an excellent game.
15:54Milan needs to play with the blinkers on. That's what you've just said.
15:59But the controversy, other teams, could they actually distract you? Could actually
16:09interactually club together after this? Or maybe Juventus to actually
16:19work together after this where they feel they've done a disservice? Could Milan actually lose out
16:25this goal? That's impossible to say. We'll only be able to say come the end of the season whether
16:31we were focused or whether the other teams were more concentrated than we were. It all comes down to
16:37the ultimate result that we're able to secure and achieve. That's the most important thing. That's
16:42what matters more than anything else. These are all ifs and buts and had you done this, hadn't you done
16:49that? It's all conjecture. But ultimately ifs and buts don't matter, it's what you do on the pitch.
16:55You've come through a number of controversial circumstances in the past. In the past, I've
17:01made some mistakes with controversy because I've also fallen into the trap about talking about
17:06controversy, making mistakes. So I'm going to step out of it and I'm going to listen to what other
17:11people have to say. Milan Vibes. Good afternoon. We already knew that Luka Modric was a world-class
17:22player. But did you expect to find a 40-year-old who was still able to offer this much in
17:30terms of
17:30application, heart and desire? Because he feels like he's a kid who's just making his way in the game.
17:40The secret of Luka is the fact that he's got passion and this everlasting love for football.
17:48And that drives him to produce these sort of performances, to apologize when he makes a
17:53mistake and misplaces a pass, get angry with himself when he misplaces every 50th or 60th pass.
18:03And his teammates are lucky to work alongside him and be in the dressing with him day in, day out.
18:09How Carby is in training, in terms of matches. But they need to learn a lot from him.
18:17Because when the game gets into its money time, that's when Luka's facial expression changes and
18:25that's what top players are all about. I'd like to ask you, speaking about footballing matters,
18:32what could be the main banana skins with tomorrow's game? And what do you need to avoid some surprises?
18:39First and foremost, we need to be neat and tidy, because if you're untidy against Como,
18:46then you can come into issues. We were a little bit untidy in the first half against Como, but we
18:54did
18:55well thanks to Mignon making some saves. But the second half was a different game. So they're a team
19:00that plays football. They're very good in terms of the counter press when they lose possession.
19:06And they're also in excellent form. So we need to make sure that we're very tidy, we're patient,
19:12we dig in, we stay together. These are our best attributes ultimately. Last two questions.
19:23Hi coach, right from your first press conference, you spoke about March being crucial in terms of the
19:29season. And March is on the way, it's on the horizon. I'd like to ask you if the Milan are
19:39where you expected them to be, where you're a little bit higher than where you wanted to be,
19:43or are there for a few regrets because you've dropped some points along the way? Could you give us
19:46a snapshot because we're nearly in March now? Let's make a snapshot in March because we're not at March
19:53yet. That said, all of the teams will have recriminations. When I hear, oh, had we beaten
20:00Pisa in the reverse fixture? Had we beaten Cremones in the first half of the season? Okay,
20:03then we'd have 100 points and we'd already be in the Champions League. The other teams say,
20:08you know, they could have done this or that. So every team
20:16have recriminations and ruse certain things that they've let go by the wayside. We have 53 points
20:23on the board and that's the tally that we deserve. Now we have three games. Tomorrow it's a very
20:28difficult and important game. We have Parma and Cremones and they're the three games that will then
20:33lead us into the derby. So from these three matches, we'll be able to understand once we get into the
20:40derby what league position we'll be in. And then that will be March and then in March we'll see
20:46where we are and we might even be able to have a separate debate. Hi coach. I'd like to just
20:55sign
20:55off about Saturday. A number of incidents have been referenced. You were the Milan coach in 2012.
21:02In terms of the period of the season and the severity of the incident and because it led to a
21:08change in the legislation. Does that remind you of the Montari goal? No, the Montari goal was objective.
21:17We lost that Scudetto not because of the Montari goal. We actually lost it later,
21:21the later date. Because if one incident, yes, that can determine your final match of the season,
21:28but it can't determine a whole league season. The Montari goal, which was a goal because it was
21:33objective. It was a yard over the line. That's objective. But had there been a VAR, then the goal
21:41would have been given. But we didn't lose the Scudetto because of that. You don't think that
21:47that was objective on Saturday? Do you think that if VAR could have intervened? I don't know.
21:53Because ultimately they need to decide whether they can or can't intervene. And once they can decide that,
21:59then they'll be able to determine whether they do want to or not. But objectivity is in tennis,
22:05the ball is either in or out. In basketball, if you remember, Livorno against Milan, did the ball go in
22:20or not go in. And then they got to the tenths of the second. And the same things happen in
22:30basketball.
22:31Let's let them work. And maybe in a few years, things will work a lot better. We can't go back
22:36in time and we mustn't go back in time. But as I said, you need experience. It takes a number
22:43of
22:43years and we need to be a bit patient about all this. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a great
22:46day.
Comments