Sassuolo coach admits Milan are ‘strong’ ahead of Coppa Italia clash: “Sacrificial victims” | OneFootball

AC Milan host Sassuolo tomorrow night and the visitors’ head coach has admitted that he hopes his side will not be ‘sacrificial victims’ at San Siro.

It is the Round of 16 tomorrow night, and anything but a win will be seen as a poor result for Milan, especially after the 3-0 win at the weekend. Paulo Fonseca’s side can only go forward from this point if they want to have a good season, so positive results in the cup are a must as well.

The games are coming thick and fast at the moment, so a rotated side is to be expected to ensure that the Diavolo’s stars remain in peak condition with the intensity of the upcoming month.

Facing Sassuolo should, in theory, be a welcomed start to the competition, and the expectation will be progression into the next round, especially with the club aiming to bring home the trophy after the recent drought.

Ahead of the clash, Fabio Grosso spoke to Sassuolo Channel about his side’s chances, and Milan News have relayed his comments.

“This match has a great importance. We are diving into a competition that is different from the one we work for every day, a competition in which there are many teams of a very high level and for us it is a great opportunity to play with courage, to play with personality, to know that there will be difficulties but to want to face them together.”

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Milan’s strength…

“I expect a strong opponent, in a nice context, because the stadium is always a very nice stadium and I expect an opponent that will certainly want to try to pass the round as we want to try to do, knowing that it will be very difficult, but we want to try to play all the cards we have.

“We have prepared, we have trained, we have recovered from the last challenge and we arrive ready for this match. We’ll try to prove it on the pitch but I haven’t yet decided which guys will start the match, I still want to understand who has recovered.

“We’ve had a few little problems and I want to understand who’s well enough to be able to face it, then obviously I’m free to make certain types of choices, but as I’ve always said I have confidence in the lads we have available and we’ll try to play a full game in a beautiful stadium against a very strong opponent.

“I’d like to see the right way of approaching the match, with personality, without trying to be sacrificial victims but trying to be protagonists in the match, facing the difficulties and trying to solve them knowing that it will be very difficult but trying at all times.”

A rotated Rossoneri…

“These great teams play many matches during the year so they have to be good at alternating the men they have at their disposal. They have a lot of good ones so for us it won’t be a surprise one way or the other: we know we have to face strong opponents and we’ve prepared ourselves to be able to do it in the best possible way.”