< ![CDATA[MILAN - Michael Essien has been speaking to Milan Channel and here are some of the topics he touched on: "The game against Verona was not easy but we gave our best and we came out on top. Personally, it was great to earn my starting place back on the pitch. I play where Inzaghi asks me to play. It doesn’t matter where. He is our coach and obviously he is important to us. He is doing a great job. He leaves us a lot of freedom on the pitch, he encourages us to fight in every situation and we play some good football. Fernando Torres is a great player. I see him training at his best every day. I am sure that he will help us a lot throughout this season and that he will soon starting scoring lot of goals. Honda is incredible form and he plays for the team as well as scoring goals. I hope he can carry on. It will be tough game against Fiorentina but we are in front of our own fans. Racism really makes me sad. The fact that in 2014 there are some stupid people that still behave like this really makes me sad. These situations are bad for us and for football. It was sad to see an empty stadium during the game between CSKA Moscow and Manchester City last night. This is the moment for things to change."]]>