“Against Napoli they didn’t consider us favourites, but I coach a group with a big heart”

MADRID, 19 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The AC Milan coach, Stefano Pioli, recalled on Tuesday that in the Champions League quarterfinal against Napoli “they were not” considered favourites, but stressed that he trains “a group with a big heart” that has carried out the tie without too many scares.

“We remember the Río Ave game very well,” he alluded to his Europa League qualifying ‘playoff’ in 2020, when Milan was beginning to be reborn at the European level. “It’s been a long road. Against Napoli they didn’t consider us favourites, but I coach a group with a big heart. We gritted our teeth and suffered, but we deserved to qualify,” he told UEFA’s official media.

“Congratulations to these guys. There will be two other beautiful, stimulating and very difficult games in the semifinals. We’ve done a lot and we don’t want to stop at all,” Pioli declared after drawing the second leg (1-1), in a tie where his pupils They arrived in Neapolitan lands with the advantage of victory by the minimum in the first leg.

Pioli added that “having a 1-0 lead after the first leg helped us in one direction and slowed us down in the other.” “We left them the ball too much. Many of our players had never played a game like this, nothing happens,” he added in this regard.

“But they all sacrificed, we were a team. We are happy for our fans, who have always supported us even when things were not going well. We are proud of them”, highlighted the ‘rossonero’ coach after having put his team in semifinals of the maximum European tournament after 16 years.

SPALLETTI: “WE WERE SUPERIOR IN BOTH GAMES”

The Napoli coach, Luciano Spalletti, for his part, congratulated Milan on their ticket to the ‘semis’ and also congratulated his own players. “We have had a great Champions League. We came to these matches a little lacking in strength and we paid for our inexperience,” he admitted to reporters after the match.

“We were superior in both games, we weren’t good in their area when we had chances,” lamented the Napoli coach who, despite this huge disappointment, already has the Serie A title on a plate. Not surprisingly, the team Napolitano leads with 75 points and leads Lazio by 14, occupying second place ahead of Roma (56 pts.).

Finally, Spalletti recognized the worst performance of his pupils on a physical level: “We came to this game with some players in less than perfect physical condition.” “We could have avoided conceding when the game was even,” he finally mused.