THE SITUATION AT MILAN
From Dida's personality and the pitch invasion that remained unpunished to the role of Pato, Ronaldo's recovery, the club's clarity in its relationship with the players: all these topics were covered today by Adriano Galliani
MILAN - At the end of the works at the Panorama Commerciale, Adriano Galliani talked about all the football subjects to the journalists present. Here are some of the themes he talked about, after the Delegate Administrator's introductory words on the team ("Milan are getting back some of their injured players and with these recoveries we will have the chance to do more turnover. In that sense the match in Bilbao gave positive responses regarding Maldini and Serginho. The team's physical condition is improving, we are coming off a great match played in Rome against Lazio, for the rest we will do all we can to finish within the top four teams in the league as always, which doesn't mean we are aiming for fourth place but that we want to be at least in the first four positions, to go on in the Champions League, and to collect our third great trophy of the year 2007 in December, to win a real Club World Cup would be truly extraordinary"):
DIDA
Someone connected the sentences after Celtic-Milan to Uefa's reprimand in 2006. Adriano Galliani's answer: "Uefa's reprimand in 2006 has been cancelled out by two wonderful letters written by President Platini after the victory in Athens and the one in Montecarlo. For the rest, at the moment I don't yet know the motivations, so I'd rather not speak about something I don't know all about. In any case, we will make an appeal to cancel out or at least halve the entity of this suspension. By now it seems people have forgotten that a man entered the field and hit our player, that someone was left unpunished. The sentence is unbalanced. Dida to appeal? I don't think it's necessary, but it depends on the motivations. We'll do what our attorney Cantamessa says. In any case Dida is an ultra-disciplined person and he will do what the club tells him. Again, we think this punishment is excessive because Milan did nothing to influence the result and because any doctor in the world would take out a player who says he is dizzy, a fact on which Milan have been absolved by Uefa. Dida won't talk? Everyone has their own character, Dida is quiet even when we win, and he was a protagonist in all the seven trophies we've won in these years. Dida doesn't talk much, it's in his character and we should accept that. In any case Milan have three more goalkeepers out on loan, Storari of Levante, Coppola of Atalanta, and Abbiati of Athletic Madrid, aside from the three we have in our squad. Dida can make mistakes just like any other player in our squad, he's won a lot with us and he has our trust. So we don't think we have a goalkeeping problem and he will remain our keeper for the following years.
RONALDO
"He's improving, let's see whether he will be able to play on Sunday, but the doctors tell me he's clearly improving. Ronaldo had an injury and he's recovering within the periods established by the medical sector. There are no different treatments with Ronaldo compared to other players, like Maldini and Serginho, who are recovering. Ronaldo is doing so well at Milan that no one will take him away from us. Now Ronaldo is recovering, then he will play and then we will think about the contract. Before the end of their contracts no one will leave Milan. Only one star left us and he still regrets having done that. If Ronaldo comes back we will have the entire squad available and this is very important because we will be playing every three days. Our season is also more complex because of the Club World Cup, we will be playing two league games in February and March that we would normally be playing in December. So if, as we are hoping, we go on in the Champions League, we will play every three days in 2008 as well, so having the whole squad available will be very important. Sure, these are the kinds of problems I would like to have every year."
OTHER PLAYERS
"Gourcuff is partly right when he says that he hoped he would get more playing time, because that's what he agreed on with our coach last summer. But that was before we got the chance to sign Emerson, even though we had told Gourcuff we would buy no one in midfield to allow him more playing time. However, Gourcuff has to understand he is lucky to be playing in the team that has won the most trophies in the world, and if he is really that good he should be able to break through into the side, even if now we have one more midfielder. Nevertheless, I can understand his situation and I didn't get angry about what he said. Emerson? We think he's an important player and we bought him knowing about his qualities. He can play in Pirlo's role and also in other positions. The player is doing well and is improving. Maldini? For us he's important even when he doesn't play, his closeness to the team and the dressing room is strongly felt. From a technical point of view, the Maldini we saw in Bilbao is a player who adds a lot to our defensive department technically. Player requests? Our fences have closed after Shevchenko left. Then we look at the singular cases: if the interest of the player coincides with that of the club we go on, otherwise the contracts are respected. It goes for everyone. Chelsea? I'm tired of repeating that these stories are without fundament. The only club who asked us about Kaká was Real Madrid, who were kindly invited not to insist... Contract renewals and changes are internal to our club, Kaká has a contract until 2011 and he will respect it."
PATO
"Our coach tells me he's doing very well. From January he will be one of our four strikers. Then it will be up to the coach to decide who plays between Ronaldo, Pato, Gilardino, and Inzaghi, even though, from January, Ronaldo will also be available and we will probably play with two strikers and a playmaker. Pato's age is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. So, in January, all we shall do is add Pato, a great striker, to our squad. There will be nothing else. In Bilbao it was right that Pato played just 45 minutes, if our staff felt that they did not want to take any risks. By the way, Pato will not be with us in our winter training camp in Dubai as he still has to take care of some formalities in Brazil regarding his move to Italy, where he has a regular working contract with Milan. But he will be available by the first league game of 2008, on 13 January against Napoli, while we will be visiting Dubai to meet with our new sponsors Emirates. In Dubai we will also be playing a friendly, with the national team or with a club side. Pato? He's an out-and-out striker. And I say again, Milan intend to play with a 4-3-3 system. I know Seedorf is not the same player as Gilardino, but I consider the players who are up front to be the strikers. I think it's bizarre when they say, for example, that when Gilardino has scored it was a striker's goal, while if Kaká or Seedorf the strikers did not score. They are our three attacking players at the moment."
OTHER THEMES
"Bronzetti? He's not our employee. We collaborate with him. Ronaldinho? Barcelona know of our interest, but president Laporta owns him and still considers him unsellable. I saw Ronaldinho last night, with Brazil, along with Kaká. The market? It's our affair. President Berlusconi in 20 years has won 25 trophies and finished second 16 times, he doesn't have to justify himself to one. The market is our business, president Berlusconi does it with my help. The choices, Kaká, Oliveira, they are all our choices. Then you judge. Then it's up the censors to judge, but we don't owe anyone any justifications."
timothy, 27/11/2006 - 16/08/2010