Conceicao: "The important thing was the result, Milan deserved it. Leao? He's setting an example"

Milan, 23 January 2025 – The Milan takes another very important step towards the eighth finals Champions League. In fact, the San Siro has arrived fifth consecutive European victory of the Rossoneri, who defeated a tough team 1-0 Girona and next week, in case of victory against the Dynamo Zagreb, will be able to ensure the arithmetic certainty of a place among the first eight of the competition, which would guarantee passage to the round of 16 without playing the play-offs.

Three very important points, in short, on which there is the signature of Rafa Leao, protagonist of an excellent match and author above all of the match-winning goal in the 37th minute. A goal that came at the end of a deadly counterattack and at the end of a first half that saw Milan start strong, play with excellent rhythm and create several scoring opportunities, also hitting the crossbar with Theo Hernandez and the post with Musah. In the defensive phase, however, the Rossoneri still showed some critical issues in the defensive phase, conceding at least three chances to the Spaniards, of whom only one amazing Maignan he was able to deny the joy of the goal. In the second half, then, the Rossoneri played less with the foil, trying to focus on the essentials and managing to close ranks effectively and defend themselves with much more compactness than in the first 45 minutes from the attacks of a Girona that never gave up but was able to worry Maignan and his teammates again only on the occasion of the goal scored by Gil with a beautiful piece of magic but in an offside position.

From the disappointment of the lack of hunger shown in the league match lost against Juventus, Milan coach Sergio Conceiçao he thus moved on to trust – albeit still very timidly – ​​for the progress shown by his boys, protagonists of a courageous and team performance: “Looking at the standings I have to say that in the Champions League the boys did a good job – explained the Portuguese coach – but it's not over yet because there's still one game left. We are in a period of great evolution, but we still have to work a lot, because there are things that are going well and many others that are not so well. It is part of my job and that of the guys. The most important thing was the result. We won and created, especially in the first half, several chances to score more goals. They also had some opportunities but I think we were superior. In the second half, the fear of conceding the equaliser was greater than the desire to try to score the second goal. This is the spirit that Milan must have for me. Rafa scored the goal, but I'm asking him to do many other things without the ball. It's not easy but he has accepted this thing and is setting an example. This change is not simple. A team to be defined as such must have all its players who at different moments of the game they think and act the same way. This is what we are trying to work on a lot."