Pioli discusses absence of Milan fans in Juventus draw: 'Not losing is positive'

After the 0-0 draw against Juventus, in which AC Milan had zero shots on target, Stefano Pioli spoke to the media and shared his thoughts on the performance. He also discussed the absence of Curva Sud at Allianz Stadium.

It was indeed a dull game at Allianz Stadium as both teams initially looked happy to settle for the draw, given the situation in the standings. But while the Bianconeri eventually began pushing for a winner, Milan continued to struggle and thus had no shots on target.

Speaking to DAZN after the game, as cited by MilanNews, Pioli shared his thoughts on the performance and the absence of Curva Sud, who boycotted the game due to ticket prices.

After such complicated weeks, did you get the answers you expected?

“We are going through a delicate moment, reacting like this, with this desire to sacrifice ourselves and obtain an important result, against a strong team that wanted to get closer in the standings, I think the boys interpreted the match very well.

“However, it’s clear that we can do better in terms of finishing and the final third, but I think we sacrificed a lot to obtain an important result. It was a particular atmosphere, we didn’t have the support of our fans. We fought until the end, it was a good reaction.”

How will Milan find motivation in this season finale?

“We work on our pride and desire to do well until the end, on our professionalism. We wear an important shirt, we have to do well in these four matches. We will have three at home and one more here in Turin against Torino. We have to do well until the end, we owe it to ourselves, to the fans and to the club.”

On the tactics…

“Their left flank has experienced, skilled players. We tried to move them a little by changing some positions. In the first half, we had a good performance, then in the second half the energy dropped a bit and Juventus brought in a lot of attackers and crushed us. We defended with a lot of spirit and determination. Not losing is a positive result for us.”

A hard-fought match for the first time this season…

“We certainly waited more for them to to something, also due to our absence. Due to the characteristics of our defenders, we preferred to be more dense. I liked the spirit. It’s important that when a team has a game plan they implement it until the end. The team did it in a difficult match, in a complicated moment of the season. I must say that I’m very satisfied with the performance of my players.”

Why so little space for Chukwueze?

“I liked Pulisic instead. Chukwueze is also doing well but at the moment, I won’t give up an extra midfielder to play with four attacking players and therefore, Chukwue is the one who was sacrificed.”

How did you experience the approach to the match with all these rumours?

“I haven’t read anything for a long time, but then I have friends who send me messages. I tell them not to send them to me but they send them to me. The only thing that matters is doing well in every match, great concentration and the serenity of making the team finish well at the end.”

The team today had personality…

“Yes. What we had prepared we put into play. We can also be more dangerous, even though we tried. I got the answers I was looking for, now we have to try to win the next ones because we want to finish in second place.”

Milan will face Genoa next and it will certainly be a boost to have Davide Calabria, Theo Hernandez and Fikayo Tomori back from suspension. Yunus Musah, on the other hand, was carded tonight and will thus miss the game.