Tonight on the pitch at San Siro the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League: Milan-Slavia Prague, LIVE from 9pm
The Vigil:
"The decisive moment of the season has arrived, is arriving and we are ready to face it": the eve of the Europa League match against Slavia Prague for Milan is summed up in this phrase from Stefano Pioli.
Now you can't go wrong anymore.
Milan must lay a solid foundation for progressing to the next round tomorrow at San Siro and then secure it next week in the return match.
Now out of the Scudetto fight, with the Champions League having been a closed issue for some time, the Europa League becomes the only real objective of the Rossoneri's season.
Raising the trophy, an unspecified request from the owners.
"We have to think we can win the Europa League - the Rossoneri coach also confirms - but we have to be good at getting through this round. It's not the right mentality to think too far ahead. But within us we have the awareness and enthusiasm of being able get to the bottom of it."
Think about it, yes, but without getting too distracted.
Because the road to Dublin is still long.
The first obstacle is Slavia Prague, a difficult team at least according to the opinion of the Rossoneri coach: "They are intense, they run a lot and well. They are very direct, they play with the three offensive players close together, they favor moving the ball around and then they immediately go to the attacker. They have physical and fast attackers. They play with a lot of energy. It's an opponent to face with a lot of respect and a lot of concentration."
He will need to defend with precision and order, something that Milan have struggled to achieve this season.
Now, however, Pioli can count on the full defense, given the return to full capacity of both Tomori and Kalulu.
In midfield Reijnders will play alongside Adli.
The usual suspects Pulisic, Giroud and Leao are confirmed in attack with the Portuguese returning from two goals in the last two European matches.
But it is the whole team that has given good answers to Pioli this week.
"We came out of the match against Lazio well. We didn't play the best match from a technical point of view but it was certainly a match of attitude and mentality. We are well and we must take advantage of this moment."
In Europe, according to Pioli, Milan "has made gigantic steps forward" and it matters little if PSG - who had won the same points as the Rossoneri in the group stage - has already qualified for the quarter-finals of the most important Europe.
"The Champions League is no longer part of our present due to details in the decisive matches. Now we only have to think about tomorrow's match. We have the ability to get to the end", assures Pioli.
And for him, lifting the trophy would be the key to remaining on the Milan bench.
At the moment the Rossoneri's season does not satisfy Gerry Cardinale who has not hidden his disappointment at the many injuries and dissatisfaction with the championship standings.
"I say that judgments must be made at the end of the season and everyone will make their own assessments", Pioli's concise comment.
Of course, nothing has been decided yet but to change Cardinale's mind we need to win.
The ambitions of RedBird's number one are clear, to make him smile you need a trophy to add to the bulletin board.
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