AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli spoke to the media on Saturday ahead of our crunch clash with Juventus on Sunday night.
The Rossoneri slipped back down to fifth place in the Serie A table after Napoil’s win on Saturday, and so as we sit level on points with Juve and Atalanta, it’s absolutely vital that we come away from Turin with a positive result.
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We haven’t been able to do that in recent years as our form away at Juventus is poor, and so we’ll have to put that right this weekend in the most pivotal of moments.
Pioli on Juventus showdown
Naturally, Pioli acknowledged the difficulty of the assignment ahead, but remains confident in his players and their ability to get the result needed while insisting that this game isn’t decisive in the bigger picture with three games remaining still.
“We have to take in all the positive things from our journey so far, all the difficulties we overcame, so we can play like a mature team and know how to interpret the game tomorrow,” said Pioli, as reported by MilanNews. “It is the most exciting and stimulating match, certainly. Dreams are only wonderful if they come true. We prepared our strategy and gave it our complete focus.
“Whoever wins has a big possibility of qualifying for the Champions League, but tomorrow’s result won’t be the end of it. There are other matches after that, we also have a head-to-head with Atalanta, and it means we are in charge of our own destiny.
“Beating Juventus would be an extraordinary result. There will be difficulties, they are a strong side, but we have to prove ourselves in those 90 minutes.”
Donnarumma future a distraction?
Pioli was also asked whether or not speculation over Gianluigi Donnarumma’s future has perhaps been a distraction for the Italian shot-stopper and the rest of the squad, but the Milan boss was adamant that the focus of the entire group is solely on what’s at stake on the pitch this weekend.
“At this moment, all of Milan and its players have just one objective, which is what is good for Milan, not personal interest,” he added. “I have no doubts over the professionalism of these players. They sweat for the shirt right to the end. There’s no certainty over the future, but we are concentrated only on tomorrow’s match.
“I spoke to all the players and we have a strategy for tomorrow. We had all hoped to be in this position and have the energy to take it home. Clearly, the first half of the season was exhilarating and then we had a dip, but this was always the target.
“We know that Juve have a lot of quality, but we believe in our capabilities. Milan want to end the Juventus Stadium taboo and we can do it with intensity and quality.
“I saw the team prepared mentally for this match. It’s a game that, in case of victory, could give us a further confidence boost. We wanted this pressure by raising expectations and we’ve got what it takes.”
Pioli not thinking about his own future
The theme of being fully focused on the game continued throughout the press conference, even as Pioli was asked about whether or not the result of the encounter and the subsequent impact on our season would influence his future at the club.
It seems entirely irrelevant to discuss those matters at this stage with so much still on the line, and it’s hoped that Milan achieve our objective and qualify for the Champions League, and in turn that makes a conversation over Pioli’s future largely redundant.
“I don’t know if it will be decisive for the future, but it is decisive for our moment, for what we dream of achieving and for the levels we want to achieve,” he said. “It is a race that would give us even more confidence in the event of victory, and we are aware. I saw a team mentally prepared for this match.”
