Ahead of the significant clash between both Milan and Inter in the second-leg of Coppa Italia tomorrow evening at the Stadio San Siro, the Get Italian Football News team had Milan journalist of Corriere della Serra Carlos Passerini provide his insight in an exclusive interview.
As it stands, the Nerazzurri enter this fixture coming off a 1-0 defeat to Bologna following Riccardo Orsolini’s last-gasp over-head kick to stun Simone Inzaghi’s men, finding themselves level with Napoli at 71 points with five games remaining.
Inter look to move past Milan in order to keep their hopes of a treble alive, as they are battling across all fronts within the latter stages of the season, as they completed the conquest of overcoming Bayern Munich 4-3 on aggregate the Champions League quarterfinals, and now face Barcelona in the final four of the prestigious tournament.
On the other hand, the Rossonerri find themselves in a grave stumbling-block with never-ending set-backs, sitting in ninth place of the Serie A standings and having been completely dominated by Atalanta in a 1-0 victory on home soil over the weekend.
With the Coppa Italia serving as the sole route for Milan to seize European football this season, Carlos was first asked about how Milan should approach the match-up in order to triumph over their cross-city rivals:
“The Coppa Italia is the only way to save their aspirations of European football and themselves after a difficult season, at least a little. However, a different spirit is needed compared to Atalanta, also in attitude, as well as in tactics: the 3-4-3 seems to only work halfway.”
In addition, Carlos was then asked if Milan coach Sergio Conceicao’s recent comments in the media about feeling disrespected since his arrival at the club could affect the Rossonerri’s mentality prior to such a pivotal match within their season:
“No I don’t think so. He expresses disappointment for the rumours that have been circulating for months about the next coach. He has some reason: he has not been defended enough by the club in these months. But the results are disappointing, the average points is lower than with Fonseca.”
Furthermore, Carlos was then asked if Milan should favour altering their tactical formation to a four-man defence after underwhelming display against La Dea.
“I think the three-man defence will make a nice derby. But it’s a risk because with teams that have been playing like this for years, like Atalanta and Inter, it can be risky. But for me a lot will depend on the attitude. Milan has quality, if they want to play and are in form they can beat anyone, regardless of the tacitcal model. But it depends on how they wake up in the morning.”
Finally, Carlos was asked about the Diavolo’s worrisome form in the final third and who will serve as the difference maker, given that all of Milan’s number-nine’s have been very inconsistent.
“A lot depends on Leao, if he’s in the evening there’s nothing for anyone.”
Julian Faustini Ι GIFN
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