Paulo Fonseca warned his Milan side they to be defensively perfect to get a result at Bayer Leverkusen in Tuesday s Champions League clash.
Milan suffered a 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool in their European opener despite Christian Pulisic firing the Rossoneri into a third-minute lead.
The Serie A giants will be looking to get off the mark at the Bay Arena but head coach Fonseca said they must be flawless at the back.
I don t think about changing (much), we need to have continuity. We know it s a different game, (but) I think it will be a similar game to the one against Liverpool, Fonseca told a press conference on Monday.
Defensively I think the team has grown, it s a good test to see our defensive capabilities at the moment. I told the players that to beat a strong team like Leverkusen we need to make a defensively perfect team.
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Xabi Alonso s Bundesliga champions began their campaign in Europe with a 4-0 win at Feyenoord but they have conceded 10 goals in their first five league games after letting in just 24 in 34 matches in the 2023-24 domestic season.
Seven-time European champions Milan, the only Italian side to triumph more than once in the Champions League era, are the top scorers in Serie A with 14 goals in six games this term.
It is true that we have done well in the league in the last few games, but I have to say that Serie A is very different from these games we have in the Champions League, Fonseca said.
Today I was made to read Xabi Alonso s words. When we talk about Italian teams, we always say the same thing that (they) are good at defending and playing on the counter-attack. I would like other things to be said when we talk about Milan.
We don t want to be like that. Tomorrow we will obviously defend because we will play against a very strong team, but when we have the ball we still want to play.
I m curious to see the team s behaviour in a different game to those we had in Serie A.
Milan may be without Spanish striker Alvaro Morata, who opened the scoring in their 3-0 home win against Lecce on Friday despite starting with a slight knock.
He (Morata) made a big effort to play the last match, Fonseca said. He is doubtful and we will manage him. Let s see how he is tomorrow. We don t want to take any risks.
