LEVERKUSEN (GERMANY) (ITALPRESS) – “I don’t think about changing, we have to give continuity to what we have done even if it will be a different game, similar to the one played with Liverpool.” Paulo Fonseca seems intent on giving confidence to the same group that beat Inter and Lecce tomorrow in Leverkusen, in the second Champions League outing of the season. “The team defensively has grown and tomorrow’s will be a good test to see our defensive capabilities at the moment,” continued the Portuguese coach. “To win tomorrow, or still have a chance to beat a strong team like Bayer, we will need a defensively perfect game. But when we have the ball, we will try to play. I’m curious to see how the team will behave in a different scenario than in Serie A.” In the last Europa League final, Atalanta outclassed the Germans but “we are not Atalanta, a team that plays man on man all over the field,” retorts Fonseca, “We are a different team. Although I said we will have to be defensively perfect, however, I also prepare the team to have the initiative, to attack, to score goals. It will be a difficult game, maybe there will be more defensive moments but when we have the ball we will try to be an aggressive, attacking team.” After giving the armband to Leao on Friday, Fonseca plans to continue the rotation of captains, “I want expanded leadership and we have the opportunity to have more players who can wear the armband. We want to share that responsibility.” Rafa Leao himself was in the press conference alongside the coach: “Already on the first day the coach called me to the office, he didn’t talk to me about goals or assists but about wanting a different player, more focused on defensive work, and that he would help me be a better player. I want to win and to win you have to make sacrifices. The captain’s armband? “It is a pride,” the Portuguese added, “When I play with this jersey it is always a responsibility, with the armband it is even more so. And as for Milan’s European ambitions, “We have to think match by match. It would be important to win in the Champions League, it would give us confidence, although tomorrow will be a difficult match.”- photo Ipa Agency -(ITALPRESS).
