MILAN – Alex has spoken to Corriere dello Sport ahead of Monday night’s Serie A match with Napoli. Here are the salient points from the defender’s interview with the Italian sports-daily:

Opening comments on the last meeting between the two teams: “It was hard for us to forget about that night. The result was tough to take and what’s more it came at the San Siro. We now have to send a message to the others in the league that we are a different team to that night.”

On Napoli’s danger-man Gonzalo Higuain: “At the moment, he is one of the best forwards in the world. He can make the difference in any moment of the match. He has the same personality and charisma as Ibrahimovic. Higuain is unpredictable and very quick. You need at least two players to try and stop him. But we will also have to keep a close eye on Insigne and Callejon. We have worked on this, trying to be effective in stopping their attack. If we want to finish third, we also need to be performing well in defence.”

Closing comments on the President and Mihajlovic: “We want to win as a present for the President’s 30th anniversary at the club. He deserves it for everything that he has done for the club over the years. We will put in a great performance to win. Mihajlovic is certainly the toughest coach I have worked with. He tells you to your face what he has to say. He doesn’t hold anything back. There is a lot of dialogue between us and the coach. I like it this way. We need to be more consistent in Serie A. We have dropped too many points against the so called ‘smaller sides’. If you want to win the league, you cannot afford to do this.”