AC Milan's Italian midfielder, Tommaso Pobega, spoke to Tuttosport and discussed many topics, including the next game in Serie A in Turin against Torino, a club where he spent last season at on loan. Here are his words:
"After the loan? I understood that I would stay at the end of the summer talking with the managers and the coach. We found ourselves immediately because I wanted to stay and they wanted to keep me. Being at Milan is a further point of departure, a new stage of my journey. Every year I have always raised the bar and it is so even now that I am here."
How he started to get passionate about football:
"As a child, I played football and basketball, but my friends all played football and so I chose it, giving up basketball. I like basketball a lot, my brother Sebastiano plays it. But I don't know if I would have turned professional."
On joining AC Milan youth sector for the first time:
"When I arrived at Milan at the age of 14, the connection people made was always the same: I from Trieste like Nereo Rocco and Cesare Maldini. My city is very close to Milan, they are myths that have made the history of football and have brought the name of Trieste high up in Italy and in the world. So there is always a thread that unites these two realities, my Trieste and my Milan."
Pobega how he grew further as a younger player:
"Compared to other teammates I was not ripe for such an important leap after the Primavera and it was crucial to be able to grow without the pressures that are experienced here at Milan. I managed to improve year after year and I deserved this opportunity, which came at the right time."
On Gennaro Gattuso, who coached him in the Primavera:
"He was the first who did not treat me as a child and a boy, but as an adult. Making me understand that I had to start taking on responsibilities. Ivan Juric? He made me understand that I had to play it face to face with everyone and to be more courageous."
On Torino's head coach Ivan Juric, Pobega added:
"He is a very direct man, a real one. He doesn't like to mislead. If he has to tell you something, he tells you to your face. The arguments are there every day, they can happen, but he immediately says what he thinks and, consequently , the situation is immediately clear: it is impossible to have misunderstandings."
On Stefano Pioli:
"He, day after day, is adding something thanks to his way of working that is completely different from the others. In addition, I have to deal with the Champions League for the first time. At Milan, you have to know how to set yourself a goal to reach every day."
If Ivan Juric asked him to stay at Torino:
"Yes, at the end of the season he wanted to understand if I would stay. I explained to him that I should first speak with the Milan management. My goal, every summer when I left Milanello on loan , it was growing up, taking a new step and coming back better to try to stay. This goal has never changed. But I felt comfortable with Torino. I knew the staff well, so the return could be a hypothesis."
On facing Torino:
"Torino are a strong team. It will take us the utmost attention and concentration. It will be a game decided by details and we must bring them to our side. For sure Jurić will have studied us a lot, he will have worked on our weak points, if he will have found them..."
Pobega on the atmosphere expected at the 'Olimpico - Grande Torino' stadium:
"Hot, as always. The fans are also pushed by a coach who asks the players for aggression and intensity as they want to fight for every ball."
If you score against Torino, would you celebrate?
"I think so, because I believe it is always right to do so. With great respect towards the grenade fans, also for how they have always supported me. But it is right to cheer for the supporters of my current team."
On playing every three days between Serie A and the Champions League:
"There are both physical and mental complications, because travel and matches tire at all levels. There is less time to prepare for the next match and be able to find stimuli every time. But it is right that it should be so at certain levels."
Pobega on integrating in the locker room of AC Milan:
"I did not find any difficulties, also because I already knew many teammates, having made the summer retreats in 2020 and 2021. I obviously knew the environment and also Pioli's way of working, therefore, everything is I would rather win the Scudetto too, also because it would be the second star."
