AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli spoke to the media ahead of our clash with Sassuolo on Wednesday evening, with the Super League naturally coming up.
The proposal has received a heated backlash from fans, pundits and governing bodies alike since the news broke late on Sunday night that the new competition was being created.
READ MORE: Argument for and against Milan’s involvement in new European Super League
At the time of his press conference, the plan was seemingly going ahead, but as things developed on Tuesday evening, it appears as though clubs participating in the European Super League have begun to pull out and thus there are now major doubts over its existence moving forward.
However, Pioli wasn’t going to be drawn on the matter when speaking to the media, as he insisted that the focus for him and his players is what happens on the pitch with plenty at stake for them in the remaining games of the current Serie A campaign.
“The club asked me to think only about my work and our goal. Then we will evaluate what will happen in the future, this is not the time to think about anything else,” he said, as per MilanNews.
“In recent years, Milan has failed to reach the top four. It would be an important goal, it would mean that we have grown in the last year. So the goal is there and it is absolutely important. I’m not the person to talk about it [the Super League].”
It appears as though the Sassuolo encounter could be further complicated by injuries and fitness issues for a number of key Milan players, as Pioli didn’t deliver positive news on that front.
“For tomorrow we have some problems, tomorrow morning we will know more,” he added. “Ibra, Theo, Calha and Bennacer have had some difficulties in training, but we will evaluate them better tomorrow morning. Bennacer and Calha got bruises on their ankles in the last game, Ibra and Theo have muscle fatigue. Let’s see if they will recover.”
On Alessio Romagnoli, Pioli added: “He is not yet at 100%, but soon he will be.”
The Milan boss covered a number of other topics in his press conference, perhaps most notably insisting that he believes Mario Mandzukic will make a key contribution in the remainder of the campaign, while noting that he’s happy with Jens Petter Hauge and Sandro Tonali but expects more from them still.
Further, he was adamant that uncertainty over Gianluigi Donnarumma’s future isn’t distracting our goalkeeper following his error against Genoa which almost led to a second equaliser for the visitors, as with his current contract set to expire in a matter of months, time will tell if he prolongs his stay at San Siro beyond this summer.
