Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani confirms Zlatan Ibrahimovic has ‘a lot of influence’ and stops short of confirming under-fire coach Stefano Pioli.
Furlani sat down with DAZN on Monday night to discuss the situation in the Rossoneri camp after a 3-3 draw with Sassuolo and building up to Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final with Roma.
You can read the rest of his comments here.
“This team can play a lot better than it did last week, so we hope they will step up and put in a great performance on Thursday,” he said.
Whether they are able to overturn the first leg 1-0 defeat and continue in the Europa League may well decide the future of coach Pioli.
“There is this tendency to put the coach perennially under the spotlight. Since the start of the season there have been people waiting to light up criticism after every game that wasn’t a victory.
“He has done well this season and we are focused on ending the campaign well. Pioli is a wonderful person and I can say we are fortunate to be working with him.
“You cannot judge a coach on one game, but by evaluating the entire season. We’ll see how the season ends, but we have faith.”
Evaluating the season so far
As they are on track for second place behind rivals Inter, how does Furlani evaluate the season so far?
“It’s too early to tell. We are doing better than last season, as we have an extra 12 points. It’s just a pity we went out of the Champions League, but it was a difficult group. We always start off trying to win.
“Our job is to give the coach the most competitive squad possible to achieve certain targets. Milan always aim to win, but the truth is we can’t do it every year. The Champions League is a regret, but we’ll do everything to have a better result next year.”
It had been reported that special advisor Ibrahimovic was given the task of deciding whether Pioli would remain and potentially finding his replacement.
Furlani assures that is not the power structure within the Milan camp, even if the former striker does have a key role.
“Much has been said about Zlatan. The leadership and the final decisions are down to RedBird and Gerry Cardinale. Under him, there is a group that works together.
“Zlatan is confirming that he is a champion off the field as well as on. He contributes on various fronts. On the sporting side, it is Zlatan, Geoff Moncada, D’Ottavio and me. We all have our areas of competence.
“Then there are other areas like the stadium, where Paolo Scaroni is very involved. The leadership is Cardinale. Ibra does have a lot of influence on the sporting area.”
Of course, there is currently an investigation into the sale of Milan to RedBird, with authorities suggesting Elliott Management still effectively own and run the club.
“That idea is incorrect. The facts are very simple, the authorities have the right to make all the investigating they want to, but we have nothing to hide and are ready to co-operate with them.”