Inter Milan vs AC Milan - Montella urges players to stay focused on derby - 7M sport

Inter Milan vs AC Milan - Montella urges players to stay focused on derby



Posted Saturday, April 15, 2017 by PA

Vincenzo Montella has urged his AC Milan players to concentrate on the football during Saturday's derby as the celebrations following the club's takeover threaten to overshadow Serie A duties.

On Thursday former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi completed the protracted sale of Milan, a club he had owned since 1986, to a new parent company led by Chinese businessman Li Yonghong.

It was a timely piece of good news for the Rossoneri, given they needed a confidence boost heading into the second Derby della Madonnina of the season, where Inter Milan are the nominated hosts at San Siro.

The Champions League looks to be out of Milan's reach as they are 10 points behind third-placed Napoli with seven games remaining, and Atalanta are keen to lock them out of the Europa League.

Inter, now also governed by a Chinese consortium, are another two points behind their city rivals and so Montella is wary of the Nerazzurri using Milan's distracted state to make advances in the table.

The head coach told acmilan.com: "It will be a difficult game, challenging to prepare for and to play in.

"We have to concentrate on ourselves as it will be very competitive and they'll be chasing the win.

"Millions of fans will be watching and if I could have chosen a game to follow this historic transition then I would have chosen this one.

"The team have trained very well and I'm sure they'll do well on Saturday, taking to the pitch with a serious mindset despite all these major changes. It will be a great spectacle."

Montella took a moment at his pre-match press conference to pay tribute to Berlusconi, who helped transform Milan into an outfit that won five European Cups and eight Serie A titles.

"What Berlusconi has done represents one final gesture of love for the club," added the boss. "I'm sure the new owners have the desire and motivation to restore Milan to our former position.

"I'm waiting to hear directly from them about what they expect from me, I'm sure we'll get that chance.

"For my part I'm optimistic."

His Inter counterpart Stefano Pioli is reportedly at risk of losing his job in the summer, despite stabilising the Nerazzurri in the top half after a poor start to the campaign under Frank de Boer.

Back-to-back defeats to Sampdoria and then lowly Crotone have not strengthened Pioli's case and the board is rumoured to be considering a summer approach for Edgardo Bauza, who was sacked by Argentina this week.

Pioli is concentrating solely on recovering from the double whammy and leapfrogging Milan.

He told the Gazzetta dello Sport: "The derby is in a league of its own, it's the most important game of the entire season.

"It's very important to us as there's a chance to climb the table after suffering two straight losses.

"We want to make our fans happy."

Inter have a fully-fit squad while Milan are missing Andrea Bertolacci, Riccardo Montolivo, Ignazio Abate and Giacomo Bonaventura due to injuries.



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