De Rossi praises Genoa’s performance, Amorim as a head coach and Milan’s ‘world class’ duo
By: Oliver Fisher
Daniele De Rossi has revealed that he congratulated his Genoa players despite their defeat against AC Milan this afternoon.
Milan did what they had to do after their midweek setback against Ferencvaros at San Siro by securing a much-needed three points to move back into the top four in the Serie A table, at least for the time being. It was not a given either, against a Genoa side who had won three in a row and four in five.
Both goals came in the first half as Alphadjo Cisse continued his excellent scoring form by firing in Adrien Rabiot’s cut-back. Christian Pulisic buried Goncalo Ramos’ square ball to double the advantage, and Ellertsson scored late to make it a tense finale, but Milan got over the line.
De Rossi was interviewed by DAZN (via MilanNews) after the full-time whistle at the Marassi to give his opinion on what was largely a positive performance from his side, but not the result to match.
Did you throw it away with individual mistakes?
“I congratulated my players. The performance was very good. I don’t like to talk about individual errors. I hear so many coaches talking about individual errors when they concede goals, not when they score. Kalulu also made an individual error on Baldanzi’s goal [against Juventus].
“That’s football. We can’t just rely on it when it suits us. There are ways to correct mistakes. We all made some mistakes collectively on the goals; we could have done better, but overall, I think the game was very good.”
It was an excellent reaction from the team despite going two behind…
“Before the last break, we were a bit more fragile, but my players always reacted. We were orderly in our reactions. Milan have a couple of players who hide the ball from you when it’s hot, but it never gets hot for them.
“They make you lose a bit of distance, and you have to put in a game that requires a lot of physical sacrifice. Everyone did it, and it makes me realise I have a team to be proud of. If we play like we did today, we’ll win more games than we’ll lose.”
What do you think of Amorim’s Milan?
“I shouldn’t judge him: he’s younger than me, but he has a lot more experience than me. I learn from him. We study him, we watch him. He plays with a system I really like.
“He puts a lot of quality on the wings, something I’ve also tried to do here. Certainly not Moreira’s level, but with the right proportions and possibilities.
“I like the way he communicate, he doesn’t blame his players even when they lose, he’s always honest when they lose. He’s doing an excellent job.”
What do you think of Modric?
“For anyone who loves this post, it’s exciting to see this player paint football like this at 41. Last season I had him man-marked, this season he played with two. He has more time on the ball.
“Maybe he goes a little slower, but the thought goes. We’ve clashed a couple of times and I told him, ‘I don’t play anymore so I can’t beat you’. But he’s beautiful, truly beautiful. He’s like Rabiot: world-class players.”
