Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

AC MILAN

Struggling Milan in ‘World Cup final’ against Inter

Struggling AC Milan face city rivals Inter in the Italian Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday with coach Gennaro Gattuso likening the high-voltage clash to "a World Cup final".

Published: 27 December 2017 09:42 CET
Struggling Milan in 'World Cup final' against Inter
AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso (C) has likened the upcoming clash to "a World Cup final". Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Milan go into the game in 11th place in Serie A, a massive 21 points behind league leaders Napoli, meaning the Italian Cup and the Europa League, where they have made the last 32, are their only avenues to silverware this season.

“This (Wednesday's game) is like a World Cup final for us,” football-italia.net quoted Gattuso as telling Milan TV.

“Nobody expected this many difficulties, but this derby can change our season on both a psychological level and in terms of results.”

Inter are third in Serie A, five points off the lead after suffering back-to-back defeats against Udinese and Sassuolo.

On Tuesday, Lazio made the semi-finals with a 1-0 win over Fiorentina thanks to a goal after just five minutes by Bosnian midfielder Senad Lulic.

Lazio will face either Milan or Inter in a two-legged semi-final in January.

The remaining quarter-finals between Napoli and Atalanta and Juventus at home to city rivals Torino will be played at the start of next month.

AC MILAN

Zlatan returns to Milan with contract extension close

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, back in Italy to sign a contract extension with AC Milan, said he intends to "help the club get back to where it deserves to be", in a video posted on Sunday.

Published: 30 August 2020 19:43 CEST
Zlatan returns to Milan with contract extension close
Zlatan Ibrahimovic said he didn't want to just 'be a mascot'. Photo: AC Milan
The video, posted on the AC Milan website and entitled “Iz Back”, started with a small plane landing at the city's Linate airport on Saturday evening and then showed the 39-year-old Swede, who was decked out in club gear, declaring he was delighted to return “to where he feels at home”.
   
Ibrahimovic has yet to sign the extension but, according to Italian press reports, the star striker and Milan have agreed an extra year's contract, with an annual salary of 7 million euros (8.33 million dollars).
   
He rejoined the club last December on a six-month contract from the Los Angeles Galaxy, on a salary of 3.5 million euros with an optional extra year. He scored 11 times in 20 Serie A and Italian Cup matches.
   
“As I said before, I'm not here to be a mascot, but to bring results, to help the club, the team and the coach get back to where Milan deserves to be,” he said in Italian on the video.
   
“We've done great things in the last six months but we haven't gained anything. Now I have the chance to be there from the very beginning, we have to keep going and do the same thing,” said the Swede.
 
   
The Italian season starts on September 19.
   
“Ibrahimovic is our priority,” AC Milan technical director Paolo Maldini said last Tuesday, without ruling out a Plan B as negotiations with the Swedish giants dragged on.
   
“We know it will be a short pre-season, so we want to complete the deal in a very short time.” Maldini added.
   
AC Milan's stated aim is to return to the Champions League, a competition the Rossoneri have won seven times but have not played in since 2014.
SHOW COMMENTS