Stefano Pioli underlined how he wants his Milan to show ‘pride, responsibility and belonging’ in their upcoming Derby della Madonnina with Inter.
Mood in the Rossoneri camp appears dangerously low as the season starts to draw to a close, with the Europa League quarter-final elimination only further pilling on the pressure on the coach, who now seems destined to depart after a difficult campaign.
On the other side of town, Inter have the chance to secure their 20th Scudetto in the upcoming derby, a particularly painful idea for Milan fans, adding an extra emotional weight to an already tense clash between the intercity rivals.
Pioli on ‘redemption’
Speaking in a press conference via TMW, Pioli first discussed what he wants his Milan players to show in the derby.
“We can use all the terms we want: pride, responsibility and belonging. For the league table, for Thursday’s elimination, for Inter’s Scudetto, it’s an opportunity for redemption, for pride.”
He was asked how the last few days had been for him and the players.
“Work, because now it’s over and the elimination has happened. We weren’t happy, we tried to focus on what needs to be done tomorrow.”
Pioli commented on what could happen in the derby.
“A victory in the derby would be very important for everything we said before. Let’s not talk about me, there’s been too much talk about it for too long. I think this hasn’t done anyone any good, but especially not me.”
The Milan coach touched on if there’d been too much criticism.
“My Milan can still give a lot. I’m not interested in criticism. You journalists and the fans can criticize and judge, there are those who have done it with more or less respect.”
Pioli was asked about the stance of the Milan ultras.
“The most important thing is that tomorrow there will be 70,000 fans who will push Milan, the rest is of little interest. It doesn’t matter about Pioli, but what Milan will do tomorrow.
“We will need the best Milan possible. There are those who think that we have never changed in the derbies, but tomorrow we have to do everything we can so that they don’t win.”
He spoke about what’s gone wrong against big clubs.
“Difficult. If the team have been going through a difficult period for a long time it means that their condition and quality may’ve struggled, but that wasn’t the case for us. We weren’t able to play at our level, in terms of quality and energy.
“Even if they were two more balanced games than you think, we shot more. The first goal in Rome is evident in what we lacked. The past is history, even if it’s not good that we didn’t progress.
“Tomorrow, we need a high level. more After Roma I said that I had seen the players well, eh, now I won’t say that anymore…”
Pioli was asked if he has any regrets.
“I won’t answer, in the sense that I’m not giving any vote, any assessments, I’ll do it at the end.”
He commented on the preparations for the derby.
“You’ll find out the lineup soon… How can you not prepare well for such an important match from a mental point of view? As for tactical choices, I think I could do anything, change everything, confirm everything, I’m open to anything.”
Pioli was confident that he still had more to give at Milan.
“Everything, as I have done since day one. I still feel like I give a lot to this team.”
He touched on how the team can prove they’re not too inferior to Inter.
“We can demonstrate this in tomorrow’s match, perhaps by not going behind in the first few minutes and understanding that we can be a match for our opponents. We arrived in the first leg with very high expectations, only to then encounter difficulties that we were unable to stem.”
Pioli spoke about if the defeats to Roma remind him of the Champions League derby losses to the Nerazzurri.
“I thought about it. Maybe when we arrive so convinced we don’t know how to react to difficulties. Maybe it was a sin of presumption to think that Roma couldn’t put us in difficulty. It’s a mistake we paid dearly for.”
He commented on if he’d be surprised by a good performance.
“I wouldn’t be surprised, I have a lot of faith in my players. Then it will be a game in which I will suffer a lot, but I believe in my players, and I believe we can win.”
Finally, Pioli was asked how his eventual successor could do better than him.
“Let’s not put the cart before the horse with certain judgments and certain comments, they are not my concern at this moment.
“Then in the end we will draw conclusions, then I will tell you what I think of the season, why and how certain things happened, both positive and negative. If you agree, fine, otherwise I’ll get over it.”