Massimiliano Allegri spoke to DAZN after Milan’s 1-0 win against Roma. Here’s what he said:
After taking the lead, you could have finished the game, but there was also good solidity. Now even Rafa Leao shows the same sense of sacrifice that the team has. Today the team played like a real team:
“For the first 35 minutes, Roma absolutely deserved to be ahead. We couldn’t play, and we got everything wrong technically. We were under heavy pressure. In my opinion, we needed to drop De Winter or Bartesaghi deeper to give more space to those pressing us, but we didn’t. Once we took the lead, we positioned ourselves better defensively. In the second half, we came back strong, we had chances to double the lead but didn’t take them. Then you need to defend, and inside the box we defended fairly well. They didn’t have any clear chances apart from the first 35 minutes.”
Milan doesn’t always start games well. Today, unlike in other matches, you went ahead and tried to score again. What do you take from tonight?
“The difficult start tonight came because they pressed us hard. In other games, we started well but struggled in the second half. Paradoxically, tonight I told the players to keep pressing in the second half. We played with four midfielders, spread the pitch more, and managed to press better. By pushing up Saelemaekers and widening Ricci, we were already on their midfielders when they opened up. These are steps forward for a team that must improve its self-belief through matches like this. Playing at San Siro isn’t easy. In these last three or four matches, without Pulisic, Rabiot, and tonight Tomori, we’ve seen players with little experience of this stadium handle themselves well. Bartesaghi didn’t do well in the first 30 minutes, same for De Winter, who played every ball backward because he was facing his own goal. But Bartesaghi then played well for 60 minutes. That’s what we need to build on. We could have done better in those first 35 minutes, and we did after that.”
Did you like the Nkunku-Leao partnership up front? Allegri commented:
“Rafa played well, and so did Nkunku. When we have players with these qualities, we need to adjust the team accordingly. Chris is an extraordinary player. He’s small, but he won many headers and protected the ball well. He will only improve. I’ve coached teams with and without a traditional striker. The key is to fill the box. Fofana had chances to score and didn’t take them, but we’ll get there. Even without a pure striker, we’ll find ways to fill the area.”
A memory of Giovanni Galeone:
“It’s a sad day for me. We lost a coach to whom I was deeply attached for 35 years. In 1991, I moved from Pavia to Pescara. They had signed Massara and included me in the deal. After half an hour there, I realized things were different. They told me I couldn’t play as a trequartista and had to play as a mezzala instead. That’s how my modest playing career began. He taught me a lot, and even though he had been a great forward, I learned all my defensive concepts and principles from him.”
