Speaking in his press conference ahead of his Milan side’s trip to Verona tomorrow, Stefano Pioli discussed the Rossoneri’s dip in form since the turn of the year.
His words transcribed in Sky Sport, the manager jokingly suggested that he would have liked to join his players on the pitch as well, in order to relieve the pressure of consecutive matches.
“Results in 2021 haven’t been as good, sure, but it was difficult to imagine us doing as well as in 2020. There have been injuries, other players have had Covid, and now is the time to clench our teeth.”
“We’ve always counted on our performances without looking at the other teams, we’re only interested in our own journey. Looking at other results would be limiting, let’s concentrate on our own match because it’ll be a difficult one.”
“Of course, we’ll be giving our all until the end, there are seven strong teams in the league, but if we don’t make it into the Champions League we’ll be disappointed.”
“It’s true that the matches are piling up, we did well against Roma but then less so against Udinese. […] The team is giving it its all, we’re happy with what’s the youngest team in the league. I wish I was 30 years younger so I could join them on the pitch, I don’t know if they’d be happy but that’s what the spirit has to be, and overcoming these difficulties together gives us satisfaction.”
“[On Verona] We’ll have to be on the move a lot, they look to compete in duels a lot and we can’t give them any points of reference. Jurić has been doing a great job for two years, with a physical, technical and aggressive squad.”
