It was a disastrous weekend to the Stefano Pioli sides AC Milan after suffering a 2-0 loose against Spezia. They are now facing difficult matches, a trip to Serbian capital for Europa league tie against Red Star Belgrade ahead of Sunday’s crucial derby against Inter.
Pioli acknowledges a great test in that sense given how dominant the home side has been domestic. He said the team needs to regain some confidence in their first leg against Red Star.
“Let’s go back to an area where AC Milan has often excelled. It was a long way to get here, we want to be a surprise in this competition too,” the veteran coach urged his team
He hints at rotating his squad as the going gets tougher. “A very demanding period is starting. In the next 18 days, we will certainly play six matches. It will be important to dose our energies well, luckily I have almost the whole group available. I will choose a competitive team for tomorrow evening, then we will think about the derby.”
The Italian coach also hinted at Mario Mandzukic to start, “Mario is very well. I think he can start from the beginning tomorrow night.”
Although Pioli did not reveal who will be rested, he said he will certainly rotate his squad.
“Ours is a particular and demanding season. We played the preliminaries and also many injuries, so some players had to play often. Now I will make my assessments. It is a tie that will last 180 minutes but it would be a good important start.”
The Italian Coach could not hide last weekend’s frustration expressing that they did not play like AC Milan.
“We have to start again. We didn’t play like Milan and this can be a positive aspect because if we lost playing like Milan we would be here to make different assessments. It doesn’t matter what we have done so far, but that what we will do from now on.”
Meanwhile, AC Milan midfielder Rade Krunic has revealed his best position as the Bosnian international looks to put last weekend misery behind.
“Even the coach knows that my natural role is as a mezzala. There’s no one in our formation, but I can do well both as a midfielder and as a playmaker or winger. It depends on the game, obviously, the decision is always up to the coach,” Krunic responded.