Losing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and potentially several other players such as Kevin Prince-Boateng, Alberto Aquilani and also Maxi Lopez ahead of Ac Milan’s weekend clash against Juventus apparently won’t make Massimiliano Allegri content with getting anything other than three points.
The absentees remains a problem for the Rossoneri but with the excellent morale hanging on the players head at the moment, Allegri believes that his team can still put on an excellent performance.
However, despite being confident with his team’s quality, Allegri won’t reject the idea of getting all three points without having to play well as beating Juventus this week would give a morale boost although it might not be that decisive for Scudetto challenge as just yet. Obviously, Milan would try to continue their good performances of late as keeping a winning run would simply boosted the Rossoneri confidence even more ahead of several important games to come.
We’re ready to play a big game. We have to play well technically and we’ll have to be good defensively. It’s not yet a decisive game, but a win for either team would change the balance of the league championship. We just have to play a big game and try and get the best result we can,” Allegri explained. “If they told me we could play a bad game and still win, I’d sign for that right now. But anyway, we’ve been playing reasonably well lately and against Juventus we’ll have to play technically well.”
Moreover, regarding the failed appeal attempt on Ibrahimovic’s three match suspension, Allegri apparently has already accepted the decision and opted to focus on the match against Juventus instead by preparing other options. The tactician is expecting that Alexandre Pato will finally step up his form again after simply been losing a lot this season mostly because of his usual injury problems, which have been frequently arriving in the last few seasons.
“I have to accept the Ibrahimovic decision because there’s nothing anyone can do about it. The decision was taken and we all have to accept it and concentrate on the game. With or without him we have to try and won this game because it’s a big one and so we’ll have to try and play as well as we can,” Allegri stated. “Pato will play tomorrow. Pato, like everyone else will be really motivated for the game.”
Milan’s squad against Juventus:
Abbiati, Amelia, Abate, Antonini, Bonera, Ely, Mesbah, Mexes, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta, Yepes, Ambrosini, Emanuelson, Muntari, Nocerino, Van Bommel, El Shaarawy, Inzaghi, Pato, Robinho
