UMBERTO GANDINI believes making it to the Champions League group stage will be a tough task, but has faith in Milan.
Milan will face the 2012/2013 Eredivisie runner-ups PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League playoff stage. The first game will take place on August 20th at the Philips Stadion and the second game will be at Stadio San Siro eight days later.
PSV is one of the toughest teams Milan could’ve drawn and the Rossoneri are aware of it. The two teams met each other 6 times in Champions League history: Milan won 3 games, drew one and lost 2. Umberto Gandini expects difficult games.
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UCL 2013-2014 playoff draw: Milan face PSV
“The match against PSV Eindhoven is the most important game of the season,” said Milan’s Sports Organizational Manager, Gandini. “Reaching the group stage is a priority. It will not be easy to go through. PSV have sold some key players but they are still a very strong team. According to the UEFA coefficients they were the strongest team we could’ve faced.
“Playing the second leg at Stadio San Siro can give us a very small advantage but the important thing is to do well in 10 days. PSV are a team with a great tradition. We know them well because we’ve followed them a lot. We qualified to the final (in 2005) after facing PSV and I still remember the fights with Romario on the pitch. I believe that there is no red alert, we worked well in the US and we will prepare with great attention to the game with PSV. The market? It doesn’t concern me.”
“We have great respect for PSV, but other teams should be worried when they are drawn against Milan and not vice versa. We are fully motivated and are eager to win this tie,” Milan’s second-choice goalkeeper Marco Amelia said.
“I don’t know if Milan is the worst possible draw for us,” PSV Eindhoven director Ron Verkerk told the press after the draw. “We have less experience than them and we’ve sold key players but in return we’ve signed some young and talented ones. In one or two years, with the leadership of coach Phillip Cocu and the coaching staff that consists of former players of the club, we’re confident that the team will be very competitive. But we can even surprise in these Champions League games.”
“It will be a difficult task for sure, but also a nice challenge which will allow us to see how we measure up to them. They have a lot of qualities. It is guaranteed that Milan always have top-level players. They might be busy reducing the age of their squad, but it is still of a high level,” commented coach Phillip Cocu, who played for the side who coaches in 2005 vs Milan.
Milan will return to Milanello in the next few days to resume training ahead of the crucial games. Milan had a decent pre-season, despite having some key players injured, and managed to pick up 3 victories out of five full-length matches.
We have no need to worry. We r Milan and we will get through
Forza Ragazzi & Forza Milan!!!
Astalavista PSV..;)
I was thinking about the money we would get if we win the play-offs(8.6$ million!!), that’s some decent amount that we can use for Honda AND Ljacic right?
So Galliani needs to pre-invest, because with them we will surely win the play-offs.
@stallion hahahaha very funny. Both the president and the coach PSV seemed pretty scared to me, hope it doznt reflect in their game. Ofcourse i want milan 2win bt i dnt want an easy ride so our problems will not be masked from us. My verdict, milan to win on both legs or a win in holland and a draw at d san siro. Forza milan!
WE ARE AC MILAN WE DONT FEAR ANY CLUB, EVERY CLUB FEAR US….FORZA MILAN
The old milan players knows the old psv players not milan knows psv,we don’t care about that,the only thing is that we have to win and show them milan are milan and will always be milan,forza milan.