Ahead of tomorrow's Champions League match with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, AC Milan head coach, Paulo Fonseca, spoke to the media in a press conference.
Here are his words:
On Alvaro Morata:
"He made a great effort to play the last match. It's doubtful, and we'll manage. We'll see how he feels tomorrow; we don't want to take any risks."
How will your Milan change between Serie A and the Champions League?
"I'm not saying our approach is always the same, but our intentions are almost always similar. We can talk more in-depth about this later; it's a bit early now. I could say a lot about our playing styles, but I don't think it's the right time to go into detail on that matter."
Tomorrow is a very tough test against a very strong team. What attitude will we see?
"I don't think I'll make changes. We need to maintain consistency. We know it's a different game; I think it will be similar to the one we played against Liverpool, but we need to continue what we've been doing. Defensively, I think the team has grown; it's a great test to see our defensive capabilities at this moment. I told the players that to beat a strong team like Leverkusen, we need to be defensively perfect as a team."
On the shared captain's armband, Fonseca said:
"When I arrived here, I saw that the captains were the players with the most matches. I want to respect that, but I also want a shared, broader leadership. We have the opportunity to have more players serve as captains. We want to share this responsibility, and probably tomorrow another player will wear the armband. We have five..."
What is your mindset regarding this "new beginning" in the Champions League? Fonseca answered:
"I am always confident. This is a different game. It's true that we've done well in the league in recent matches, but I have to say that Serie A is very different from the games we play in the Champions League. Today, I was shown some words from Xabi Alonso; when people talk about Italian teams, they always say the same thing. That Italian teams are good at defending and playing on the counterattack. I would like it if, when people talk about Milan, they say different things. We need to work because we don't want to be seen that way. Tomorrow, of course, we will defend because we are playing against a very strong team, but when we have the ball, we still want to play. I'm curious to see how the team behaves in a match that is different from those we've had in Serie A."
On Atalanta beating Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final:
"That match shows how difficult Serie A is: Bayer had a lot of difficulties in that match. It's difficult for these teams to play man to man. What I can say is that we are different from Atalanta: we are not a team that plays man to man all over the pitch, so you won't see the same match"
He added:
"When I prepare a match I prepare every moment. I've already said that we'll have to defend very well, but I've already told the team what we'll have to do with the ball. We want to be an attacking team, but I don't know how it will go tomorrow."
What mistake did you make with Liverpool that you don't want to see tomorrow night?
"We made many mistakes against Liverpool, and when you make mistakes against teams like these, it's difficult. I think we made more defensive errors. Against these teams, there won't be many opportunities."
How would you define Milan's formation? Fonseca answered:
"It's difficult (laughs). I keep saying that it's not a 4-2-... It can be many things. It depends on the moment, where we're playing... What I do know is that when we talk about Morata and Abraham, we're more offensive, but we play with them because they work a lot defensively. We're stronger both offensively and defensively."
