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Zlatan Ibrahimovic says AC Milan must approach the second leg of their Champions League play-off against Feyenoord as they would a final, having lost the first leg 1-0.
With Milan coach Sergio Conceicao making his way back to Italy after attending the funeral of former Porto president Pinto da Costa, senior club advisor Ibrahimovic took his place at Monday’s pre-match press conference.
Milan lost the first leg of the knockout-phase play-off 1-0 at De Kuip last week, with Igor Paixao’s third-minute goal making the difference.
“They have to go into this with a final mentality, focused, aggressive and concrete,” Ibrahimovic told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s second leg.
“It’s important to play well, but it’s more important to win. We are down by a goal, we have to get a result to go through. Everyone has to push their team-mate and make him be focused.
“It’s a collective thing that starts with some individuality. Even those on the bench have to push, it’s all connected to the collective. This is what makes a group and a team.”
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— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 12, 2025
Ibrahimovic also believes Milan’s home supporters can play a vital role in pushing the team to get the required result at San Siro.
“For tomorrow, our fans are important, their fans pushed hard in Rotterdam,” Ibrahimovic said.
“But I am confident that tomorrow, 80,000 Milan fans in the stadium and those around the world will give maximum support to the team, which will then take this energy to do the best possible.”
The Rossoneri have failed to progress from five of their last six European Cup/Champions League ties when losing the first leg, with the only exception coming when they overturned a 3-2 first-leg deficit to eliminate Manchester United in the 2006-07 semi-finals.
Fikayo Tomori is aware a clean sheet will be vital if they are to progress to the last 16, with the Opta supercomputer assigning each team a 50% chance of advancing.
“We as a team and as defenders take the field every game with the aim of not conceding goals and tomorrow we are already down by one,” Tomori said.
“We know the quality we have, but if we concede a goal we must not lose concentration and keep belief in what we are doing.
“In the end we know that we have to and we want to win, we have to be focused to get what we want.”
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