MILAN (ITALPRESS) – “Milan has not won the Coppa Italia for a long time so we have to have a clear ambition in this competition. The match with Sassuolo is important because we have to win it if we want to have the aspiration of going to the final.” Paulo Fonseca assures that the Rossoneri will not snub the challenge against the Serie B leaders, that Sassuolo who will arrive at the San Siro tomorrow for the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia, a trophy that has been missing from the trophy cabinet since 2003. This does not mean that there will be no turnover, on the contrary. “We have to do it, we played two days ago, if we don’t manage the players well we can have physical problems and we don’t want that – Fonseca clarified to the club’s official channels – I have confidence in everyone, we will change someone but we will present a strong team to win the match.” Absent are Maignan due to dental surgery and Theo Hernandez due to a foot contusion “but everyone else is ready.” Pleased with the progress of players like Thiaw (“he’s in a great moment, even in the building phase”) and Emerson Royal (“he’s growing, Serie A is totally different from the Premier and he hadn’t had much time to adapt but he’s getting better every day and he’s growing like the whole team”), Fonseca hopes for confirmations from what he saw on Saturday with Empoli. “We had a beautiful game, very balanced, with many chances to score goals,” the Portuguese coach stressed, “We are on the right path and we have to keep working every day to improve and be a stronger team every day. But I am satisfied for the fans, who need to have this feeling from the team: we have to be the ones to drag them and on Saturday we succeeded, but we have to do it again because we are stronger with the fans by our side.” Close comment on Sassuolo, first in the cadet tournament. “For me it is not a Serie B team,” warns Fonseca, “They have many Serie A players, not just Berardi. They won in the Coppa Italia with Lecce, they have a strong team, we have studied them well and we should expect a difficult match.”- photo Ipa Agency -(ITALPRESS).
