Pioli: ‘We must be ambitious in the Champions League’

Stefano Pioli was pleased with Milan’s 4-0 rout of RB Salzburg in the final Champions League group stage, but insisted ‘We must be ambitious in the Champions League’. The Rossoneri finished second in their group behind Chelsea and progress to the last 16, but Pioli insists who they face next is not important as it will be a difficult match regardless@

Whoever we meet, it will still be challenging and difficult. But we are the champions of Italy and we will have to play our football and try to go as far as possible.

We played with the will to be dangerous against Salzburg who defended very tightly, but after the second goal we took even more dominance and control of the game.

It was a beautiful Champions game, with end to end football and a high pace, I’m satisfied.

We had prepared our game plan to have more width than them, we tightened Leao’s position close to Giroud. The game-changers were a situation that could give us an advantage, unlike the first leg we exploited these situations much better.

We must not be afraid, now we throw ourselves back into the championship, we have to recover from the bad performance against Torino and we face a team like Spezia that plays effective football.

We have to stay as close as possible to Napoli who are going very well. In the Champions League we have to be ambitious and not be afraid of anything. Any opponent will face a convincing Milan.”