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00:02Good morning, everyone. Welcome along to this pre-match press conference on the eve of Sassuolo, Milan, but Gaffa would
00:10like to say something about Alex Zanardi first and foremost.
00:13I think it's only right that we remember Alex Zanardi for all of his wonderful values and sportsmanship that he
00:22showed, the great passion, humanity he showed in sport.
00:27So I'd like to send my condolences to his family and remember him when he conveyed all of those values.
00:38Thank you, Nicola. Good afternoon, coach. Luca Modric moved to Milan last summer and everyone was pretty curious about what
00:50sort of impact he could make.
01:00He's been the real beating heart of this team day in, day out this season.
01:05He won't be out on the pitch for the final four games of the season.
01:12And how will you be able to compensate for the lack of that driving soul on the pitch?
01:17First and foremost, we're disappointed that he has suffered this serious injury, which I believe that will keep him out
01:25until the end of the season, even though he's very keen to get back out there.
01:29And he's been showing what he's done all season, a great passion for the job that he does.
01:34And I hope that that will be a real lesson for all of the players and for absolutely everyone that
01:43has worked with him.
01:44How will we replace him?
01:46Well, we have some important players.
01:50It will either be Ardon Yashari or Samuele Ricci that will replace Luca Modric.
01:54They're two players that have come on leaps and bounds.
01:57I've got the utmost faith in them and one of the two will start tomorrow's game.
02:01Sky, double question.
02:03How has Yashari developed over the last few months?
02:06He had that injury that held him back at the start of the campaign and he's almost been held back
02:15by being in Modric's shadow.
02:20And you, as a manager, how do you split your time between your work on the pitch and the meetings
02:26you've been having with the ownership and the senior management?
02:30Do you still have the same ideas to keep working together?
02:36As for Yashari, he's a player who's come on leaps and bounds, but unfortunately he had that serious injury at
02:40the start of the campaign that kept him out of action for a long while.
02:46But he really is someone who's very keen to work hard, he's curious, he's come in from a different league
02:53and he's got a whole future ahead of him.
02:56And I think Milan has secured an excellent signing.
02:59As for meetings, that's only natural.
03:03We've often met up in recent times, we've been speaking about things, we've been assessing not only the future, but
03:10first and foremost, we need to assess what this season has been up until now.
03:16But we'll also assess things come the end of the campaign, because ultimately, the result will change the vision you
03:23have of things, and that's ultimately what matters.
03:27And we'll move forward from there.
03:32And we all certainly have the goal to lay the foundations, and the most important foundations and building block would
03:38be qualifying for the Champions League.
03:41Corriere della Sera.
03:42Good afternoon, Max.
03:45I'd like to quite simply ask you your opinion, what is your take on the investigation into refereeing matters over
03:53the last few days.
03:54I've got no take on it whatsoever, because it's such a delicate subject matter, everyone's speaking and everyone has their
04:02own view of things.
04:03But I think, ultimately, the competent powers will make a decision on that.
04:10I think what happened in the last match there was very positive for the referees, because I think they did
04:17a very good job.
04:18And I think psychologically it wasn't in any way easy.
04:21Rai.
04:27I'd like to come back to the previous question, and given everything that's going on at the moment, but also
04:33Milan trying to get into the Champions League, how important would it be to finish second?
04:39Absolutely not.
04:41We need to try and finish as high as we can.
04:44In the table, we've got a very tricky, difficult match against Sassuolo tomorrow.
04:49They're in good form, they're a very technical side.
04:51Sassuolo can score against you at any stage of the game.
04:54They're having an excellent league season.
04:58And they have some excellent players.
05:00They've also got an excellent coach in the shape of Fabio Grosso.
05:08He really has been the revelation of this Serie A season.
05:14I've known him for a long time, he's come on leaps and bounds.
05:17I remember him when he worked with the Primavera side at Juventus, and he's made giant strides over the last
05:22five or six years.
05:23But it's a very important fixture for us.
05:25It's a difficult game because we're still six points shy of qualifying for Champions League mathematically.
05:30And this is the first of four matches that we need to approach with cool heads, focused minds.
05:38And we mustn't make sure that this opportunity slips away.
05:42Max, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions about the forwards.
05:48Did you expect a different impact from Nkunku in terms of the number of goals?
05:52And given that everyone's talking about it, and that's all they're talking about, do you think after seven years, Milan
06:00could exist without Rafa Liao?
06:02Well, there's no point talking about the transfer market.
06:05We all need to be focused on our target to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions
06:09League, because that's in no way easy.
06:12Yes, we've got six-point lead, we've got a better head-to-head record.
06:16But if a game goes badly and the other teams win, then they're right, they're breathing down your neck.
06:20So we need to take things one small step at a time.
06:23We all started the season by trying to strive for the utmost come the end of the season.
06:29And ultimately, our target was to go back into the Champions League.
06:33So the entire squad of players needs to be focused on that target.
06:37Once the campaign comes to a close, we will all assess things, myself, the club, the players, and then we'll
06:46see next season where we can improve in terms of the work that we've done this season.
06:56Nkunku is a footballer with a huge amount of technical ability.
07:01Nkunku is a player, given that it's his first season in Serie A, he has had some difficulties, but he's
07:06still a player that scored goals.
07:07OK, in recent times, we've struggled to score goals.
07:11Maybe tomorrow we'll start to find the net again with forwards.
07:14That's what's great about football.
07:17But you mustn't and cannot debate the ability of the player, because, you know, a player's ultimate ability is one
07:24thing.
07:24And then there are certain seasons, a whole host of factors that play into whether a player might have a
07:29good season or a slightly less successful campaign.
07:32But you cannot debate the ability of a player, just like you can't debate the ability of the players we
07:38have in our squad.
07:45Good afternoon.
07:52I wanted to ask you a couple of questions.
07:57Did you enjoy watching PSG Bayern at finish 5-4?
08:05What did you think about that?
08:07And I also had another question for you.
08:09How do you explain the fact that over the last few years, Sassuolo have become almost a bet noire for
08:15Milan?
08:18I don't know whether they've become a bet noire for Milan.
08:21Let's hope that they were Milan's bet noire.
08:24But it won't be in any way easy tomorrow.
08:26It'll be a very tricky game.
08:27As for the match between PSG and Bayern Munich,
08:34from a technical perspective, there was some wonderful ability on display from individual players,
08:41just as the same went for Bayern Real Madrid in the quarter-final second league.
08:52It's easier to see this technical ability within matches,
08:57but maybe the next time they play it might finish one each,
09:00because that's what football's like as well.
09:02if the game is still nil-nil after a quarter of an hour,
09:05but it certainly was a very enjoyable match with the chances at both ends of the pitch.
09:12Gazzetta.
09:16Hi, Max.
09:20I wanted to come back to the question from Sky and the meetings that you've had for the future.
09:29In the past, you said that the club have done a good job in striking that right balance,
09:38finding the right blend between experienced players and younger members of the squad.
09:41You've also said that in the future,
09:46if you do play in two competitions, as you hope,
09:50one of which will be the Champions League,
09:51you will need to improve the squad and bring in some more experienced players.
09:57With these frequent meetings that you've been having over the last few weeks,
10:04have you brought up the fact
10:09that your demands have been met by the ownership
10:12and you do have scope to actually move forward positively like you want to?
10:17No, I think we all need to be aligned
10:20on what the best interests of Milan are, the club itself,
10:23so we all need to work towards them.
10:26But until we get to the end of the season
10:29or until we qualify for the Champions League mathematically,
10:32we cannot say last season
10:35because ultimately, whether we secure Champions League football or not
10:39is a 100 million euro matter with regards to the transfer market.
10:45So we need to wait on that score.
10:47We're having a chat
10:48and it's always nice to have a chat
10:52with regards to what we see as how the season's gone thus far up until now.
11:03And then we'll assess things and we'll make some decisions,
11:07but it won't be easy in the transfer market
11:10because the transfer market's always a little bit quirky and difficult.
11:13But we'll look at trying to improve the squad first and foremost in terms of numbers
11:17because it's one thing having one competition to play.
11:20It's another having three, we hope.
11:22So the Champions League, the Coppa Italia and Serie A.
11:25So we do need to expand our squad slightly numerically,
11:29but there are young players.
11:32Francesco Camarda will come back in,
11:33Cristian Comotto will come back in.
11:36Milan have Gabia, Bartesaghi, Comotto and Camarda
11:41plus Torriani, five players coming through the academy.
11:46So we've done a good job in the academy as well.
11:54This needs to be a building block for Milan's future
11:57because having players breaking through from the academy into the first team
12:03means that you're able to then spend money elsewhere
12:07on more experienced players that you have to buy in from outside the club.
12:12Porto Italia.
12:13Good afternoon, coach.
12:15Earlier on, we were talking about raw ability of a footballer
12:19and your colleague asked about Nkunku.
12:22I'd like to ask you about Santiago Jimenez.
12:24It's clearly been a very negative campaign for him as a whole,
12:27but since he's come back from injury,
12:30he hasn't really had too much playing time.
12:32And when he has had playing time, he hasn't convinced you.
12:34What's going on?
12:35Is he not fit?
12:36Does he not have the right attributes for your style of play?
12:39Is he having a bad campaign?
12:41Obviously, these next four games looking forward.
12:47Santiago is a player who signed for Milan last season.
12:50He had an ankle injury because he started the campaign with this ankle issue.
12:55He signed at the end of January last season, if I'm not mistaken.
12:59Then he played for four months and then broke his ankle.
13:01And then he came in in August because he had the Copa America,
13:05if I'm not mistaken.
13:08He's an important player and he's a player who unfortunately this season,
13:13the injury kept him out for four or five months.
13:15And when he came back in after four or five months on the sidelines,
13:19the end of the season, trying to build up fitness levels,
13:22trying to find space in the team is not easy.
13:24But he is knuckling down, working hard.
13:26He's a quality player and he will remain a quality player,
13:29regardless of the fact that this has been a less positive campaign for him.
13:32But that also is down to factors that go beyond football itself.
13:39Injuries, namely.
13:43We don't talk about the transfer market and you'll only assess things
13:46once you've secured your target, but we can say that foundations are good.
13:50So in terms of assessing the future, will you be looking at the formation
13:53or given that you've been working with a 3-5-2 for a C season,
13:57will you be using that going forward?
13:59It's difficult to say so at this moment in time,
14:02but I always say that just as when I came in last year,
14:08it wasn't that we needed to do away with everything from the previous campaign.
14:12Similarly, we'll see where we finish, we'll see what we're doing
14:16and then we'll assess things after that.
14:18We'll see what options there are in the transfer market.
14:22As for the formation, that's not an issue whatsoever.
14:25What matters most of all is what the club wants to do,
14:29which is to build a big squad to meet the demands of next season.
14:33Calciomercato.com
14:34Calciomercato.com
14:36Good afternoon, coach.
14:39Rather than talking about the formation, I'd like to come back to what you were saying.
14:44I was very curious after the Juventus game,
14:45explaining the fact that Christian Pulisic is out of form.
14:49You said that this formation actually penalises him
14:52because he has fewer 1v1 duels with defenders.
14:57Do you have an idea of trying to get the best out of Christian
15:01or does Christian need to quickly settle into this formation?
15:05Could that have an impact on the future?
15:07No, it won't have an impact on the future
15:09because Pulisic is a Milan player,
15:12it's a very important player for the club.
15:13It's difficult to find players as good as him on the market.
15:16And I always say,
15:18the players that you have in the squad,
15:22you mustn't look at whether they have one good season or one bad season.
15:26you need to look at them across the board from every angle.
15:31His ultimate ability doesn't change.
15:33Pulisic is a very important player.
15:35He's scored some significant goals.
15:38I think he lacked a goal in the last game,
15:41but he really knuckled down and worked hard for the team.
15:44At this moment in time,
15:45you need to put personal goals to one side and work for the team.
15:51You need to show sacrifice towards the team
15:54because the team's ultimate goal is hugely important.
15:56It's too important to not make it.
16:00So it doesn't matter now about formations
16:03or who's playing, who's not playing.
16:05Those that are starting the match,
16:07those that are on the bench
16:08and those that are coming off the bench,
16:12certainly need to have an excellent attitude
16:16because it's your attitude that allows you to secure results
16:19and also play football
16:21and play the two most important phases in football,
16:25attacking phase and the defensive phase.
16:28I'd like to come back to the game
16:34that we've been talking about all week
16:35between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.
16:40The two coaches have been praised as well
16:42and a number of people have compared that game
16:45with Milan Juventus,
16:46with two coaches that have won a few trophies
16:49in their respective careers.
16:53Can we talk about overhauling the playing style?
16:58Do we need to change our mentality?
17:00Or is it simply a different way of seeing football?
17:04And one of the two teams that's done so well
17:07certainly won't win the Champions League, will they?
17:12You don't necessarily need to play football
17:15like PSG or Bayern Munich
17:16or you mustn't play football like Milan and Juventus.
17:19They're two completely different football matches.
17:23There were different stages of the season for us
17:26and Juventus, that was the Champions League semifinal
17:29between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich
17:31with players that have a completely different skill set.
17:35As I've said,
17:38the higher the level of technical ability
17:42the easier it becomes for players
17:45to produce match-winning moments
17:47because ultimately,
17:49as I often say,
17:51what we must retain is
17:54it comes down to individual skill of players
17:57from Luis Diaz's goal
18:00when he controls the ball brilliantly
18:05or when they go past their opposition player.
18:09So we remember those individual moments of skill
18:12so the higher the technical ability of the players
18:15the more likely it is you'll see those match-winning moments.
18:18But there were two very different football matches.
18:23Everyone can have their opinion on football
18:25and that's what's great about it.
18:26As I've said,
18:28Bayern Paris Saint-Germain
18:30was a very entertaining game.
18:32It was wonderful to watch
18:33in terms of the players' technical ability
18:35just as Bayern against Real was
18:37because Bayern Real from that perspective
18:40was also a very nice match.
18:43There was some very accurate passing.
18:45You only need to see
18:47how much the ball was on the pitch
18:52for the effective playing time.
18:53I'll need to finish on this point
18:58because I need to think about Sassuolo.
19:00I mustn't think about Real Madrid and Bayern United.
19:01I need to focus on Sassuolo.
19:02But it's very simple.
19:05In the third tier,
19:08the ball is on the pitch for 20 seconds.
19:11In Serie B, it's on for 40 seconds.
19:14In Serie A, it's on for 90 seconds.
19:17In the Champions League semi-final,
19:18I think the ball was on the pitch
19:21for three minutes without going on.
19:23So the more the ball's on the pitch,
19:24the more football you play,
19:25the better and the more technique you have.
19:28You don't need much to understand it.
19:30Milan News.
19:31Good afternoon.
19:32Let's talk about tomorrow's game then.
19:38Given the reverse fixture,
19:40what do you need to be most focused on tomorrow
19:44to avoid having a similar result
19:46to what happened at San Siro?
19:48We need to produce a performance
19:52where in space and on counter-attacks
19:55because they're very good
19:56near the opposition box
19:58because we conceded two goals
20:00in the same way at San Siro
20:01with one-twos from there.
20:02And they're very good on that.
20:03They're a team like they actually
20:05afford you a lot of chances,
20:06but they don't afford you too many chances
20:08because they're very good at defending
20:10in the way they defend.
20:11Fabio Grosso's done an excellent job
20:12because it feels like they leave you
20:14a lot of space,
20:15but that said,
20:17when they pick up possession,
20:19they actually come and hurt you.
20:21Just like every game,
20:22it's going to be a difficult match
20:23and above all at this stage of the season.
20:27It was one game in September,
20:28now it's a whole different kettle of fish
20:30because the result is so important.
20:34Last three questions.
20:36Good afternoon, coach.
20:40At the start of the season,
20:44we all remember what you said,
20:45that often the best defences win Serie A.
20:48Milan currently have the best defence
20:50in the league,
20:51but probably it's the best attack
20:53that will win Serie A.
20:54Is something changing
20:55or does it ultimately come down
20:57to the ability of the players themselves?
20:59I don't know about that.
21:02These are statistics.
21:04From 2010 until 2026,
21:06I think in only two instances,
21:10maybe in one instance,
21:11in one instance,
21:12until today,
21:14the best defence hasn't won the league,
21:18rather.
21:18And that was the year of Juventus
21:20under Maricius Sarri.
21:21I believe that's the case.
21:23More or less.
21:27I don't think so.
21:28I don't know.
21:32Ultimately,
21:33what matters is the goal difference.
21:38Inter scored 80 goals,
21:40even if they've conceded
21:41three more than us,
21:42four more than us.
21:45But ultimately,
21:46the goal difference
21:47is what matters the most.
21:49But in general terms,
21:51typically that's the way things work.
21:53And then they're also,
21:55what's great about statistics
21:57is that statistics can be beaten
21:59and disproven.
22:01Good afternoon, Coach.
22:03A few weeks ago,
22:05we asked a question in Latin
22:08and now we're going to go on
22:09to psychology.
22:13But even the perfect man,
22:15it feels like they have
22:16lots of demons inside,
22:17whereas Liao feels very imperfect.
22:21He has a lot of demons
22:22surrounding him,
22:23the fans that are booing him.
22:26Why do you think
22:27the fans are booing him?
22:28Are they disappointed in him?
22:30Because as you said,
22:31Liao's recent performances
22:32have been positive,
22:33even in terms of the way
22:34he supports the defensive effort,
22:36which we didn't necessarily
22:37see things in recent times.
22:39Does he just need to get a goal
22:40and everything will change?
22:41No, I think it's
22:43a showing of affection
22:44towards Rafa from the fans
22:47because last Sunday
22:48he produced a good display.
22:53I think that was one of his
22:54best displays physically
22:57in terms of his focus.
23:00And he did have some
23:01opportunities to find the net.
23:03Good afternoon, Max.
23:05I wanted to ask you a secret.
23:07Maybe you'll reveal it.
23:08Over the course of the week
23:10we heard that
23:14Genignocchi said that
23:15Milan Juventus
23:17felt like both teams
23:18were coached by Allegri.
23:20Someone else said that
23:21it was a bad game
23:22because Allegri was involved.
23:29You were also the case
23:30even when it was Tudor
23:31and Spalletti.
23:33How do you feel
23:34being third in the table
23:35and you're a coach
23:38that's constantly
23:40criticised
23:40and you really are
23:42the standard bearer
23:43for being what you
23:43shouldn't do in football?
23:44What's the secret
23:45to finish third
23:45with all that?
23:46I don't know.
23:47I think you need to get
23:48a few results.
23:49We still need six points
23:51and let's hope we get them.
23:51Thanks very much, everyone.
23:52Thank you, everyone.
23:53Thank you, everyone.
23:54Thank you, everyone.
23:54Thank you, everyone.
23:54Thank you, everyone.
23:55Thank you, everyone.