Zlatan Offers Milan Key Feyenoord Advice

With Feyenoord one goal down going into their Champions League playoff second leg, AC Milan must approach the return tie with the Dutch side the same as they would a final, senior advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic said on Monday.

Ibrahimovic replaced Milan manager Sergio Conceicao, who was returning from Portugal following the funeral of former Porto president Pinto da Costa, at the press conference preceding Tuesday’s game at the San Siro.

Milan lost the first leg of the knockout phase playoff 1-0 away from home, but will hope to reverse things at their own stadium.

“They have to enter this with a final mentality, focused, aggressive and concrete,” Ibrahimovic advised reporters.

“While playing well is crucial, winning comes first. We have to produce a result to pass as we are short of a goal. Everyone has to motivate their fellow and help him to be concentrated.

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“It’s a collective thing beginning with some uniqueness. It’s all related to the group; even those on the bench have to push. This defines a group and a team.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic also thinks the Milan supporters can be quite important in motivating the club to reach the needed performance.

“For tomorrow, our fans are important; their efforts in Rotterdam pushed hard,” Ibrahimovic remarked.

“But I am confident tomorrow with 80 thousand AC Milan fans in the stadium and those around the world they will give maximum support to the team, which will then have to take this energy to do the best possible.”

Fikayo Tomori, a defender for AC Milan, understands how critical it will be to deny Feyenoord from scoring once more in the second leg, but his team’s response should also be very important.

“We as a team and as defenders take the field every game with the aim of not concessioning goals and tomorrow we are already down by one,” Tomori remarked.

“We know the quality we have, but if we concede a goal we must not lose concentration and keep belief in what we are doing. In the end we know that we have to and we want to win, we have to be focused to get what we want.”