(photo credit: Sky)
Stefano Pioli, AC Milan coach spoke to multiple outlets in view of the end of the 2020 year, including Sky Sport , CorSera, and La Stampa, and Il Secolo XIX. The following statements are his words.
"My fairytale of 2020? It is not a fairytale, it's real. I really do like music, a song was released recently which is called 'Contatto' There's a phrase that says 'The life I wanted is here. The friends I dreamed of, just like that’. It describes my story a bit."
"If AC Milan were a woman, she would be my wife. My wife is the love of my life, so it means that AC Milan is too."
"Davide Astori and my father, whom I lost last year, are my 2 guardian angels. I think that they were with me through all these good results."
"My players singing 'Pioli is on Fire' was a moment which was born spontaneously. We are a young group and we are very committed. The players give their best and we find a lot of positivity in such situations. I hope this will last a long time."
"2020 has been a rewarding year, I work at a big club and a group of guys that I like a lot. Despite being so young, the players are very responsible at this complicated time and situation."
"The last mercato? I believe the club did some great operations in those days. There was the renewal for Zlatan and signing Tonali. The club provided continuity to the project in order to put Milan back where it has always been."Pioli also spoke on signing Ibrahimovic: "It began long before the match against Atalanta. His ok came in the days following that defeat but Maldini, Boban, Massara, and Gazidis had told me about it earlier. I was very happy, clearly. I knew we needed his personality, strength, and charisma."
The Rossoneri coach was also asked about the next mercato and what were his needs to improve the quality of his squad: "There is no specific role to fill. If there are opportunities, the club will be ready. AC Milan thinks in these terms: take only high level players or young players who can reach high performances."
"We prepare game by game. We always face each challenge with the conviction that we are able to win."
Wednesday is the day you play against Juventus.
"On Sunday we play against Benevento. I focus on our next fixture."
"We are happy to be at the top of the table. We will study how to win in order to stay there."
"Two days before a match, we mainly work on strategy. After our last workout session, when I am convinced, and I usually am, that I have done everything necessary, I go to sleep peacefully. But, I struggle to sleep the next night. I always have my notebook with me."
"Scudetto? A team that won the league 9 times in a row and has many champions on the pitch is necessarily the favourite. There is also Inter who finished 1 point away from Juve. There is also Roma, Napoli and Atalanta who went and beat Liverpool."
"The turning point was when we started winning against the teams that are above us in rankings."
"I'm not so convinced about the closure of stadiums helping our players. Against Inter in January, we played a great first half, while we lost to Genoa in the first match of lockdown."
"I tried to convey my ideas and the attention to details. We are at a level where details could decide the games for us. I was lucky enough to find an available group."
"We are now in no condition to push one side or the other. We did well in the league and in the cup, and we have to continue like this. In the Europa League we want to try to go until the end."
-How long it takes for such a young team to be mature enough for Champions League football?
"It's a hard question. We have had a significant growth. Milan is a top club and must return to attend the champions League."
"The loss against Lille was too heavy but not too true. In Europe you play intense football, the teams think about building, adapting and scoring. We like it because it is a bit of our way of playing the game, too."
-How much do you miss Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
"Zlatan is the group leader. He is always with us with his behaviour, attitude and mentality. His presence is very important for us even when he is injured."
-What did you ask of your players before they went on their holidays?
"I am happy as I've never been. The first time I entered Milanello I felt something magical, a unique energy. I feel this energy every morning at 8am. I know I'm lucky and will do everything to continue deserving this luck."
"I'm no genius, but I am always dedicated, curious and tenacious. I always thought there was something to learn from everyone. Now, I feel complete and mature, more than ever. I know I can do more. I'm a normal man, not the 'normal one'. I'm simple, I love being."
"I've never met such intelligent and likeable player like Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He will come back and play more than before after his injury. His presence is always fundamental. He knows how to push his teammates forward. Managing a player like him isn't really difficult."
"Ibra and I are both direct people. We never hide for better or worse. We said nagative things, it happens. It's a logical dynamic of the team. Once he entered my office and said 'I want to talk', so I sat and listened, the next day I talked. That's how it works."
"On the eve 20 July, Gazidis called me before Sassuolo-Milan to tell me that him and the owners decided I should continue with them. I told him I would think about it jokingly, and I didn't hang up. It was a great emotion."
"After the game vs Sassuolo, I gave the news that I will continue with the club to my collaborators and team. I never lost my serenity. Gazidis, before the match with Genoa, came to Milanello to say that the choices would be made at the end of the season and not before."
"Things were clear for me, I continued to work to deserve the trust without paying attention to what was being said around me."
"We must keep improving and return to Champions League football. The club didn't ask for anything as they don't want to put pressure. Maldini, Massara and Gazidis put us in ideal working conditions, they are extraordinary."
"We are well aware that we must do everything to bring AC Milan back to the Champions League. It's been missing for too long, that's the club's place. We can do it. What interests me is growth, this team can also improve a lot."
"Right now and here, there is compactness, seriousness and enthusiasm, everyone knows what to do. This group is strong, united, proud."
"Whoever joins in the mercato, must have the right mentality. The players who arrived in January, and I mean Ibrahimovic and Kjaer, set the example, that made us move forward. We must be careful and not break the balance of the team."
"At this moment, there is total harmony. If there's a chance to improve, we will take it. Otherwise, we are perfectly fine."
"My father was the manager of the team where I started, for him I was never wrong, instead my mother exaggerated the criticisms. So even now she tells me that I have not won anything. But I know she is proud of me."
"I am as demanding with everyone as I am with myself. And therefore also with my son Gianmarco (who works in the staff as a match analyst). The players are all my children. However, it's nice to work with Gianmarco. On the field, he's a collaborator like any other."
Stefano Pioli was also asked about the speed of Rossoneri's French left-back Theo Hernandez: "We don't take measures of him on a running track because we play another sport. But, we have his physical data: they are impressive."
