Milan, Sandro Tonali defends De Ketelaere: ‘Like me in the first year’

Sandro Tonali with an open heart. De Ketelaere, Leao, Ibra, the arrival in Milan, the help of Pioli and a little letter to Santa Lucia. “I’m asking you for the Champions League final. Of course, to win it.”

CDK and Leao

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The Rossoneri midfielder therefore spoke to Dazn, who was interviewed by Massimo Ambrosini. One of the first topics raised was the one about De Ketelaere, a Belgian talent who arrived in the summer but hasn’t really blossomed yet: “It’s normal to go like this, it’s the same thing that happened to me. He was paid He was hired to decide games and he pays for the pressure. He’s a great player who needs to regain his confidence, we have to help him. A game has to go well and then we see the real De Ketelaere.” However, other nice words for Leao: “You need two men to mark him. If he lights up, we go on goal in a second. Maybe he didn’t the continuity like last year, but he’s the strongest and always has to come into the arena with this quality”. Small parenthesis to Ibrahimovic: “In training I want to play against him. When I win training games I make fun of him, but when you lose he kills you.”

difficulty

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Tonali spoke of the comparison with Pirlo, “who got a bit difficult at the time of Brescia” and of his first idol: “Lampard from Chelsea! But then came several Rossoneri jerseys”. Sandro joined Milan in 2020 and described the negotiations as follows: “I had spoken to my mother, my girlfriend and my agent. I dreamed of Milan. The first year was difficult: it wasn’t easy being a fan and a player, but after an adjustment period I made it. At first it was a strain to wear this shirt, I was at a point where I had to try not to disappoint anyone. I was afraid everything was different, but with Pioli I overcame everything. I spoke a lot with the coach. And now he’s doing the same to other players who are going through what I went through. I never thought I wouldn’t make it because playing in an empty stadium helped me in the beginning”.

The new course

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Tonali also spoke about the current season, which started well and continued badly, with a bad slump in January: “The castle we had built collapsed in those 5 minutes Milano-Roma. I couldn’t explain it. I think back to the training at that time and I don’t understand how that’s possible. We were too fragile. The cure was to win again and play with courage. We haven’t forgotten this month. It was madness to have those 7-8 games, two or three can happen but seven is too many.” Champions League chapter: “Last year we dominated against Atletico, then came the red card. We failed, because we’re Milan and we won’t get out in the group stage. We haven’t set ourselves a goal, but we’re ambitious and we want to play freely”.