AC Milan boss asked about reunion with Sandro Tonali and difficulty of Champions League group | OneFootball
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AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli has been quizzed about the upcoming reunion with Sandro Tonali and the difficulty of Champions League group F.
Pioli and Tonali combined to win Serie A in 2021/22 with AC Milan, then last season almost reached the Champions League final, losing out to city rival Inter in the semi-final.
AC Milan forced into selling Sandro Tonali as the player was desperate to join Newcastle United, then less than two months later the Champions League draw has ensured an upcoming reunion.
Stefano Pioli asked by DAZN about drawing Newcastle United, PSG and Borussia Dortmund in Group F of the Champions League, as quoted by Football Italia – 1 September 2023:
“I liked what I saw in my players after the draw.
“I saw no fear, no anxiety, just excitement, motivation, enthusiasm.
“We know it is the Champions League, but we are Milan and we want to face every single game with the desire to battle, play good football and win.
“Tonali and Donnarumma gave me their all when they were here.
“We had good times together and I will be pleased to see them again.”
Stefano Pioli was talking ahead of Friday night’s Serie A match away to Roma and added:
“We are working together for a while now and there are still some movements that need to be improved. The more we play together, the more we will get stronger.
“Depending on the way Roma react to our full-backs, we will change position for Davide Calabria. We could occupy the spaces that they allow us in one-on-one situations out wide.
“We think that we have strong wide men and will try to control the game by covering the whole pitch.”
AC Milan went top of Serie A as they won 2-1, with a penalty from Giroud and Leao with the second, Roma scoring a very late consolation in added time.
With now three wins out of three, AC Milan have made a strong start to their Serie A season, the sale of Sandro Tonali helped fund some major transfer activity and amongst those who started last night, were Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek who were both bought in from Chelsea.