Nikola Milenkovic credited Fiorentina’s character and personality for helping the team battle back from a goal and a man down to secure a 1-1 draw with AC Milan at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Saturday night.
“As I’ve said before, this team needs to realise how good it is and how much character and personality we have,” he said. “We went down to ten men against a very good side in AC Milan but we didn’t drop deep, we went out to try to score and draw level. We managed that and then we had chances to make it 2-1 late on.”
Milenkovic went on to acknowledge the defensive improvement of the Viola since the arrival of Beppe Iachini.
“We’ve really progressed defensively,” he said. “We’re compact and organised and I think you can see that. We don’t give our opponents many chances and that stems from our work on the training pitch. We need to keep it up and focusing on keeping it tight and scoring goals in order to win games.”
The young Serb has subjected to a gruelling exam at the hands of Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Saturday night.
“He’s a great player,” he said. “There’s no point in me praising him because we all know what a great player and person he is. It was really tough but we held firm today and I think we deserved the point.”
Last but certainly not least, Milenkovic had warm words for the Viola faithful.
“The fans spurred us on and showed great support when we went down to ten men,” he said. “They were fantastic tonight, as they always are. They really help the team during the tough moments. We need them – thanks to them.”
Published: Sun, 23 Feb 2020 12:05:00 +0100
Source: Fiorentina Official website en.violachannel.tv