Fonseca explains formation and says Milan must play ‘with courage’ vs. Leverkusen | OneFootball

Ahead of the big clash between, AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen, Paulo Fonseca spoke to the media and shared his thoughts on the task at hand. He also explained the decisions made regarding the starting XI.

The manager has made just one change to the XI compared to the win against Lecce last week, replacing Alvaro Morata with Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Spaniard is still suffering from bursitis, starting on the bench, but it seems the formation will remain the same.

Speaking to Sky Italia ahead of the game, as cited by MilanNews, Fonseca was asked about the starting XI and how Milan will approach the game. He made it clear that the Rossoneri are very motivated to play a great game.

What did you say to the team to get them fired up?

“They were words of motivation and courage to play a quality game because they have quality. It’s an opportunity and we have to see it as an opportunity and play with courage.”

On the formation…

“We keep the same structure, nothing changes except one player. Too risky to play Morata from start today. And thus we have Tijji [Reijnders] in a position that he has already played in before. For the rest, almost nothing changes.”

On the team’s philosophy…

“It depends on the form in which we want to defend. We can change and we will certainly do it with other teams that play differently. We have stability defending like this but we cannot have this defensive structure against everyone.”

It remains to be seen if Milan will be able to clinch their first win in the tournament, having lost the opener against Liverpool by three goals to one.