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00:00Hi Sergio, welcome. I have a question that everyone wants to ask you.
00:07Tomorrow night we'll see all four of your champions in attack, or do you have a different assessment?
00:15There are more than four.
00:17I'm talking about the four in front of you. I'll name them for you if you like.
00:20It's the question of the day. Pulisic, Leal, Joao, Felix and Jimenez.
00:24Pulisic, Leal, Joao, Felix and Jimenez.
00:34We've got lots of different options. We've got 15 outfield players and we've got some young players as well.
00:41Kamard and Partizaghi as well, they're part of the first team squad.
00:47And now there are some injuries and there are some players that aren't on the Champions League list as well.
00:53We have a few issues, but there are a few injured players, so we need to try and find some solutions.
00:59But these four players will be on the team sheet tomorrow. We'll see what happens.
01:04Eliano, we spoke to Quinten Timber this afternoon.
01:11He said you'd spoken to him, but that it wasn't about the match, but about the tickets.
01:16Yes, that's right. We did talk about the match.
01:23Yes, we have spoken a little bit about the match.
01:28It's nice to play together.
01:33And my brother can give us a hand for getting some tickets.
01:39Santiago Jimenez now plays with you. Are you helping him?
01:44I'm not the only one who's helping him. The entire squad is giving him a helping hand.
01:49And the entire squad has given him a warm welcome. Not only him, but anyone that signed for the club has had a warm welcome.
02:01After being left out for two games in a row, how is Rafael Leal? Is he 100% fit, or isn't he?
02:17Have you seen him in training? Is he ready to start again?
02:20Has he learnt the lesson as well, in terms of what you were asking for him, in order for him to be more consistent over 90 minutes?
02:28Rafa is available for selection, just like he was for the previous matches. He was available for those games. It was my decision to leave him out, not to start him.
02:41But when he came off the bench, Rafa did a good job. He did his job, as we want him to.
02:47And when I'm talking about us and we, I'm talking about the team, he is available for selection.
02:52What else did you want to know?
02:56No, I don't normally say that. There are some exceptions, but I don't feel like necessarily making an exception today.
03:07Good evening, Tidjani. I wanted to ask the head coach a question after this, but are you already a top player or not? What do you think the coach would answer if I asked him that?
03:34All I can do is play as best as I can, be an important player by scoring more goals and providing more goals than I did last season.
03:49Do you feel like you've got a bigger status now amongst the fan base?
03:53Yes, I have noticed that, but I don't want to give that too much thought. I'm only focused on one thing.
04:05A question for the head coach. Is he already a top class player, the gentleman alongside you?
04:16Any player who is part of the Milan squad is a top class player, just like everyone else is, as part of our team.
04:23Tidjani has a great deal of quality in terms of his character as a person. He's also a really good kid as well. He's got a lot of desire to learn, to develop, and that's what we do with everyone. The same goes for me as the head coach.
04:38So everyone at Milan are worthy of representing this top club.
04:44Good evening, Gaffa. I wanted to ask you about Santiago Jimenez. It's a special game for him because a week on from signing he comes back here after his move from Feyenoord in the January transfer window.
04:57What do you like about Jimenez? Where does he need to improve and can you tell us where he'll start?
05:02You guys really want to know the starting eleven tonight, don't you?
05:06Special, special. I think it's special for everyone. Tomorrow we have an important game. It's our own fault that we're here because we could already actually be through to the round of 16 and so we have the responsibility now.
05:27And we want to take on board this responsibility, not shirk it, produce a top class performance and win tomorrow. That's the thought in our minds.
05:36As for Santi, he's a player I've been familiar with for a number of years now. We're all developing day in, day out in football. That's only natural with the issues that we encounter. There's constant pressure.
05:57So he's a young player. He's only 23 years of age. He's got a long way to go but he's already a very good player.
06:05Mediaset. Hi Sergio. I wanted to ask you whether Ibra in the unveiling with Joao Felix kept stressing the point that Conceicao now has two teams and he can alternate personnel.
06:21I wanted to ask you, given it all comes down to balance and shape and the very few training sessions you've had in full besides those recovery sessions, do you think you can find that shape and balance with those four players or do you think it's tough?
06:36No, not with four, with eleven. You get balance and shape with the entire team and that's what we're working on.
06:43Ibra certainly said that we have two teams. We have more than two teams. We've got a lot of teams in the academy as well.
06:53No, we've got more options now, more solutions now but we at Milan are in all of the competitions. We want to do well. That's it.
07:05You work to strike balance and get shape. It's not simply a case of you're going to score more goals if you have more attacking players on the pitch and if you have more defenders on the pitch it means you're going to keep more clean sheets.
07:21That's not necessarily the case. You need balance and shape in football. There are two phases, in possession and out of possession. There are set pieces. There are a number of moments in games and you need to strike balance in all of that. That's what we're working towards.
07:35A quick one about reinders. In terms of shape, would you be willing to change where you play on the pitch to provide greater balance?
07:45It is about having balance in the team. There are some new players. I've played a number of matches but what matters to me is playing every single game.
08:12I go out there to try and produce my best performances whatever position I play in and I want to be at the top of my game.
08:23I wanted to ask you about the central midfield pairing. Not in terms of who's starting but what do you ask your central midfield pairing?
08:35Do you want quicker centre-backs? Recently you've been playing Pavlovic a lot. Do you want to focus more on a defined centre-back pairing?
08:50I count on everyone. We've got four centre-backs and I've got a lot of faith in all of them regardless of what the centre-back pairing is. It might even be three.
09:04They give me a lot of faith. There's a lot of quality and character but at this moment in time I want the team to be nice and tight in terms of their shape, compact, have a high defensive line.
09:19The players know what they need to do. They know what we're working on to try and improve day in day out but I've got faith in all four players.
09:26We have spoken about Santi before. He has one of the best goal-per-minute ratios in the entire Champions League. With your team he's played against Empoli, he's scored a number of goals in the Champions League, he's got good numbers in this competition.
09:53Do you think he's able to give more options to the team?
10:00It's up to the team to work hard as a whole. It's not only down to him to score goals. It's not simply a case of if we concede goals it comes down to Mike Mignone or it only comes down to the back four. We're always talking about team and the unit.
10:18He has that ability to score goals, to finish off the opportunities that the team create for him. He's got a lot of talent but he needs to keep working hard because the team needs him both in and out of possession and he is a player who is there for the team now and we are working with him as part of our game plan. I'm delighted with him and very happy with everyone else at the moment.
10:47Last two questions.
10:50Why did you start answering in English? Are you not up to speed with Italian?
11:03No, I understand everything. I can't yet speak it. I spoke to your dad before the game. I was with him and he said you might be a top class player.
11:28My father has always told us that we need to stay humble, to do ordinary things like ordinary people.
11:42We always want to improve. That's something he taught us right from a young age.
11:47Good evening. Milan have made history in the Champions League. You've already said many times how proud you are to coach this team.
11:58Given though that in Italy we often have a problem where coaches typically don't have a lot of time to actually work and coach for a number of years, you're a reporter for seven years.
12:09Would you like to have an important cycle at Milan a bit like Ancelotti had? Maybe not in the here and now, in the immediate future, but looking ahead, could this be your home for the next five, six, seven, eight years?
12:21This all comes down to results. Coaches always have their bags packed and ready to go.
12:30I know that in football things change very quickly. What's important is looking at the present, the here and now. The future depends on what we do every day, day in, day out, because that's what football is all about.
12:45After you win a game, you always need to wipe the slate clean and you need to start again from scratch after a defeat too and think about your next game.
12:53I'm not concerned about that, to be perfectly honest. Even when I joined Porto, they said I might stay three or four months. In the end, I was there for seven years. That's what football is all about.
13:03Carlo Pellegati, last question. Thank you.
13:06Good evening. I think this is one of the hardest matches you have to prepare because I play tennis and if there are some players that are injured go out there, then I know that I'm going to win.
13:25But we've seen the players for the first time today. Feyenoord have seven players missing, a number of players out, so I think it will be difficult to actually convey the message that you're playing at De Kooijp in a tricky Champions League match because on paper the opposition have a whole host of issues and it might be the first time you come up against a team which is coached by a gentleman that's only conducted one training session.
13:55It seems difficult in my opinion. Yes, that's absolutely the case. Typically, when the head coach changes, that does motivate the group because they already want to show what they're all about, so I think it's motivation. I don't think it's something negative. I don't think he'll necessarily change too much in terms of the way I see things.
14:15Plus, it's a Champions League match and historically, as you said, Carlo, historically this is a tricky match to come here to the Netherlands and play against Feyenoord. I played here three years ago with Porto and it is very difficult. There's a very fiery atmosphere, I like that, but it always gives the Feyenoord players a lift.
14:44That's the case. We also have our issues. It's not only Feyenoord changing coach and having players missing through injury. We also have a few players on the sidelines and as I said earlier on, we've got 17 outfield players available for selection. Of course, I'd love to have the entire squad to pick from.
15:05We can decide how the result pans out. The game will take a certain direction depending on how we play. That's what it's all about. We'll approach the game hopefully with the right attitude, with the right mentality and everything that we've prepared, everything that we've studied in terms of looking at Feyenoord.
15:26I think there is scope for us to produce a good result, which is what we want.