The AC Milan head coach, Massimiliano Allegri, spoke to the media as usual, ahead of the Serie A match away from home against Genoa.
Here's what he had to say:
Will Modrić play tomorrow?
“One piece of positive news is that he’s available: he tried the mask on and trained with the team. Tomorrow he’s coming with us. Ricci suffered an ankle sprain this morning. Everyone else is doing well.”
On the current moment at Milan:
"It’s normal for everyone to feel disappointed, and we are the first ones to be. I knew it would be difficult to go all the way and secure a place in the Champions League. Tomorrow we have this opportunity against a team that is doing well. We need organisation, patience… Tomorrow evening we’ll see. The team worked well during the week. The players also got some rest during the three-day training retreat. Tomorrow we’ll also need a little bit of luck.”
Cardinale said that without the Champions League it’s a failure...
“It’s normal that when you are at Milan you must have the ambition to achieve the highest possible result. I always say that in a league, the result you get is the one you deserve. Then you can analyse the problems and the mistakes made during the year. Right now we need to stay focused on tomorrow’s match.”
Did you argue with Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Allegri said:
“I’m used to always having a professional relationship. And to behaving professionally with all the directors and the ownership. During meetings, not only this yea, there have always been discussions where people agreed or disagreed. But today everyone needs to put all their energy into tomorrow’s match."
What does the team need to do?
"At moments like this, you can’t let anxiety or haste take over... We need to act with organisation, aggression, and belief that we can achieve the result. If we do well, we’ll see it at the end of the season. If we don’t succeed, then the others will simply have been better. In football, everything can be turned around. On 8 March, after the derby, everyone was talking about the title, and now we’ve wasted all our advantage over fifth place: that means we’ve had a poor second half of the season and mistakes have been made. But we only need to think about tomorrow."
So Ricci is not available? Allegri commented:
"Ricci is coming with us; we’ll see tomorrow morning how he is."
On Cardinale’s comments:
"Cardinale’s words only pleased me. I had spoken with him recently and given him my view on the season and on Milan’s future, which is what matters to everyone."
How can a Milan fan feel confident about tomorrow?
"People need to be confident regardless, because of the professionalism of the players and everyone working at Milanello. We may have made mistakes over the last month and a half, but the professional commitment in every training session and every match has never been lacking. We’ve worked to put in a strong performance tomorrow and achieve a good result, but it won’t be easy."
A chaotic week between talk about the future and a kick-off time decided at the very last moment:
"I didn’t have any preference: when they tell us to play, we play. The week has gone smoothly enough, but the important thing is that tomorrow goes smoothly too."
On the team’s current situation:
"I have a very serious group of lads, very professional and truly professional people. They care deeply about achieving the objective: they too are hurting because we’ve thrown away quite a few points over the last month and a half. But there’s no point thinking about what happened; we have to think about tomorrow. We’ll go onto the pitch trying to do our very best and hoping to achieve a positive result."
But do the people working at AC Milan really want what is best for the club?
"Milan always comes before everything else. I repeat: the club stands above everything and everyone. Those who pass through, all of us are only passing through, must work to try to leave something important behind, always in the interest of the club."
On conceding too many goals:
"Certainly in the last matches we conceded three goals against Udinese Calcio and Atalanta BC, two against US Sassuolo Calcio… We also came from conceding two at home against Torino FC. We’ve conceded too many goals, too easily. We need to play a match with great compactness; we need to steer the course of the match in our favour. We must do better as a team defensively, against Atalanta we conceded three goals far too easily."
Does Massimiliano Allegri feel that he has always acted in the best interests of AC Milan?
“One thing is making mistakes, everyone makes them, and I’m the first to do so. Another thing is the seriousness and commitment we put at the club’s disposal. They are two completely different things.”
Do you know Viktor Bezhani?
“No. Also because as sporting director we have Tare. He has done a good job, I immediately got on the same wavelength with him. He is a serious person and very well prepared professionally. All these attacks that are made against him… When you reach the end of the season, the responsibility is everyone’s.”
What drove you to the point of exasperation? What made you explode like that, given that the most notable incident, the argument with Ibra, came from you?
“The most notable thing is tomorrow’s match. Within a company there are discussions, one sees white, one black and one red. What matters is that everyone works in the interest of the company. I have also had much worse arguments than these; the important thing is that everyone works in one direction. The fundamental thing is tomorrow’s match. I always say: words are carried away by the wind. Bicycles by the people of Livorno. Then at the end of the year, will we be in the Champions League or the Europa League? Then the club will make its assessments. Tomorrow the lads will certainly put in an excellent performance, as they have always done. Let’s hope we also get a result.”
On Nkunku:
“Tomorrow between Nkunku and Pulisic, one will play. We play at 12 tomorrow, high temperature, there will especially be a need for substitutions. Pulisic, Nkunku, Loftus, Fullkrug are players who, coming on during the match, can make the difference.”
Will Fullkrug play tomorrow? Allegri said:
“Fullkrug is well, just as Gimenez is well. I will have to assess tomorrow.”
What is the most important thing you hope for in the future?
“We need to finish the season and analyse how the season has gone from every angle. It would have been better if we could have done it a month ago; that would have meant we were already in the Champions League. That is not how it went, and we will have to wait until 25 May.”
