After the 4-2 victory against Slavia Prague, Stefano Pioli spoke to Sky Sport Italia. Here are his words:
"We could have done more. I expected a second half with more pace. It's a good victory against a solid opponent, so passage to the next round is still to be conquered, although the advantage is good."
On the two goals conceded:
"We made some small mistakes on the two goals. We needed to create something more. With them being down to 10 men, they closed up even more. We needed more pace and speed."
On Slavia Prague:
"They are a good team. I expect a different game in the return leg since they have to recover two goals and cannot spend the whole game waiting for us. They are fast and dangerous on set pieces. We'll have to face them with caution because they've shown they're a serious team."
On the second goal conceded, Pioli said:
"The goalkeeper sets the height of the line. Usually in those situations, we make two lines. We weren't lucky with Tomori's deflection, Theo tightened, but we made mistakes in the initial positions in my opinion. We weren't ready. Even in the first goal, we gave too much space even though we were three against two outside the box. Their second goal took something away from us, but fortunately, we scored the fourth. In the return leg, they will try to play the game of their lives. We made a similar mistake against Rennes in Jovic's penalty opportunity. We were too high with just one line. We'll have to analyze this situation."
On difficulties in building up play:
"Gabbia and Kjaer have technical qualities. We filled the spaces too much, the full-backs were too high, instead they should have tightened more to leave more space on the wings for Leao and Pulisic. We had some difficulties, but it's normal when opponents play deep and close up."
