On formation and Spinazzola
“If I chose this line-up, it means it was the best one, especially since we prepared it in just one day. There wasn’t even time to change things. For me, it’s the formation that gives us the most guarantees. We’ve also recovered and, in any case, we’re risking Spinazzola on the pitch and bringing Olivera to the bench. We’ll have to work as a team to deal with this big defensive emergency. Milinkovic-Savic? I won’t explain that choice, otherwise I’d be giving an advantage to the opponents.”
On Sporting Lisbon
“An important match against an excellent team. Sporting won the Portuguese league. Together with Benfica and Porto they represent the elite of Portuguese football. Against Manchester City we lost, but it was a particular match because of Di Lorenzo’s red card. We had very little time to prepare, we came back late from Milan, and yesterday those who played could only recover.”
On the defeat to Milan
“We analysed the game thoroughly. Those who had to recover didn’t do much training. The conclusion is that we played better than in last year’s games against Milan, which we won while suffering. This time we dominated, but we weren’t as attentive as before. We have to be sharper and improve in certain situations.”
On De Bruyne
“It’s not about one player’s situation. Those who know me know my point of view on certain behaviours. It’s up to me to restore the situation and reiterate some concepts, so that the first time you allow something but the second time you don’t.”
