San Siro will welcome two giants of European football on Tuesday, as AC Milan host Liverpool in their first match of the recently reformed UEFA Champions League.
The Rossoneri suffered a group stage exit from the tournament last season, dropping down into the UEFA Europa League before exiting that competition after a quarter-final defeat to AS Roma.
On home soil to kickstart the 2024/25 campaign, Paulo Fonseca used his pre-match press conference to call for the fans’ unwavering support as they prepare to face “one of the best teams in Europe.”
What did Paulo Fonseca say?
“Talking about being favourites doesn’t count. We can beat Liverpool and we want to do it,” said Paulo Fonseca during his pre-match press conference on Monday. After a disappointing start to the Serie A season that sees AC Milan sit in ninth with just one win from their first four games, it’s certainly an optimistic statement.
The Rossoneri recorded their only win of the campaign so far on Saturday as they dismantled Venezia at the San Siro, and Fonseca suggested that “winning in the league was important [because] we had some signs of team growth before, but getting the result gave us a lot of confidence.”
“I liked the structure of the team against Venezia, not only offensively. It’s possible to repeat that on other occasions, but we must prepare for each match individually.”
“Liverpool are one of the best teams in Europe,” added the 51-year-old. “They have an excellent positional game and very good individuality. We will have to be a defensively perfect team to win this match. In the Champions League against this kind of team, you cannot do anything wrong. We will need a complete defensive performance to attack with stability.”
Embed from Getty Images“[Arne] Slot has just arrived and the team has changed some elements. I think for now there are not many differences, they have characteristics in common, for example in the defensive approach, compared to [Jürgen] Klopp’s team. They are different on the outside, but they start off on the counter-attack in a similar way.”
Speaking on what he hopes AC Milan can achieve against Liverpool on Tuesday, the Portuguese manager concluded: “I see this match as an opportunity for the team to show that they are learning. Liverpool have different characteristics to the teams we face in Serie A and facing them can make our players understand how they are growing.”
“The best defence is not to lose possession of the ball, I always tell the team that. In the future we can be dominant in this: we are already doing something but we have the ability to become more dominant. The biggest challenge, especially in this type of match, is to build a team capable of defending together.”