AC Milan senior advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic has insisted that all four forwards must do their jobs on and off the ball for Sergio Conceicao’s selection to work.
Milan return to Champions League action on Wednesday night as they take on Feyenoord away from home in the first leg of their play-off round tie, and it promises to be a red-hot atmosphere at De Kuip.
The Rossoneri were hoping to have a break from Champions League action in February, but lost in the final round of the ‘league phase’ against Dinamo Zagreb. That meant direct last 16 qualification went up in smoke as they dropped to 13th, and the draw two Fridays ago yielded a trip to Rotterdam.
On the flip side, Feyenoord have been described by the Italian media as being ‘in the midst of a storm’ given they sit fifth in the league (in what is usually a three-horse race), having lost their star striker to Milan in the winter window and having sacked their head coach on Monday.
Ibrahimovic spoke to both Amazon Prime Video and Sky Italia just before kick-off at De Kuip, and his comments were relayed by MilanNews
Can we talk about ‘4-2-fantasy’ today?
“Today it’s like this. But everyone attacks and everyone defends. Everyone has their own responsibilities. The choices are made by the coach and today he chose like this.”
There was a strong desire in the mercato to bring Milan back to where it should be…
“As I said a couple of times, we were not satisfied and happy with the situation. Now we are confident, this team must carry Milan forward.”
Have the new signings rekindled excitement?
“That’s for sure, five new players who have brought something different. New blood, you get pumped up. When you win then everything is positive, when you lose the opposite. We try to have continuity and win games to have confidence and rhythm. Today is the first leg, a game of two.”
Can Joao Felix take away some of the creative responsibility from Leao? Can having two of them in the team take away the doubles and responsibility?
“Everyone has their own responsibilities. Obviously we are talking about Leao, he is one of the best in the world. Then it is not that Joao Felix comes to take away his responsibilities, he still has them.
“But it does not depend only on the two of them, there are many who have this responsibility to bring results. Then they are two different roles and two totally different players.”
Do the new recruits have mentality traits too?
“These names that have arrived were to raise the level, to bring something new also in terms of profiles and quality. For all the matches we play we thought of having two teams, because we play every three days.
“Then for the way the coach plays you need legs. Then we will see at the end of the season if the window has gone well.”
Can a new four-pronged attack be born today?
“Everything we are doing is to do the best we can, to bring results that last forever: if you bring results, you bring trophies and you write history.”
What are the differences between the two windows?
“If we talk about the first mercato: Fofana has shown that he has a very high level, Pavlovic has played but hasn’t had space with Fonseca, with Morata it didn’t work for many reasons, Abraham has done his part and can do more like the others.
“Those who have entered the market now can play immediately in the eleven: this is why I say that we have raised the level, quality with different profiles.”
