Stefano Pioli believes Milan need a team performance against Borussia Dortmund tomorrow, with qualification for the Champions League still in the balance. The Rossoneri need to win at San Siro against the Bundesliga side to stand a chance of making it to the last 16 of this seasons competition, with a tough visit to Newcastle still on the horizon. Speaking ahead of the potentially crunch match, Pioli pointed to the need to work together, insisting that the stadium would give the players a boost on a European night:
“We will need a team performance, we face a strong rival. A match that can change the season? Tomorrow is a very important match, almost decisive: we’ll face it with the right mentality”.
“Francesco Camarda? I really liked the welcome the boy got from the whole environment, a good sign. He will now have to make his own path, which will have to be built calmly and with due patience. He absolutely must continue on this path.”
“Sinner? We have to win every single clash as he fought on every point, if he’s at the stadium we’ll give him a big congratulations. I also do them to my colleague Volandri”.
“San Siro? I’ll just say one thing: in Dortmund they had the yellow wall but they don’t know what San Siro is like in the Champions League. I’m sure they will help us tomorrow night too”.
“4-2-3-1 formation? Everything is possible, they are versatile during the game. We’ll have to be very good in the possession phase. We went down but we remained a team against PSG: we have to do that even if Borussia obviously play differently. Chukwueze? I was happy with his performance against Fiorentina. He had a more difficult start than others because he was also injured. He often worked very wide, the other day perhaps he played more inside and went more in possession of the ball there.”
“We started clearly at the beginning of the season: the goal was to be competitive in the league and in the Champions League. Going forward in the Champions League is important and that’s what we’d like to do”.
“Theo? He can always have great games because of the qualities he has. The fact that he has been criticised is normal when Milan don’t do well or don’t win. The important thing is that we occupy the areas according to where we can hurt the opponents.”
“Against Dortmund I want to see a team that will show everything it has and our characteristics. We always play to win: I think the team has shown that we do that. Then there are moments in the championship when you also defend but you just have to do it with compactness. I don’t believe in bad luck and good fortune: we’ve conceded some goals because we did something wrong”.
