MILAN – The interviews following Milan’s 2-1 victory over Carpi in the TIM Cup quarter-final:

CARLOS BACCA
“Against Roma I came close to scoring and hit the woodwork, but I was determined tonight and I was able to score and play my part in helping the team reach the semi-finals. Winning the TIM Cup is one of our objectives, but let’s not lose sight of the league. We’re all working well and we hope we can go on to lift the TIM Cup come the end of the season. We now have to make sure we arrive ready for this weekend’s match against Fiorentina in which we will have to try and dictate the pace of the game and dominate.” 

LUCA ANTONELLI
“I got married to Marta at the start of the week and I am really happy. I hope I can maybe dedicate a goal to her by scoring against Fiorentina this weekend. It was important to progress to the semi-finals, and we still have areas to work on, but we’re always training well as a team and we will be ready for the visit of Fiorentina. It’s vital to always stay focused, and had we not conceded, we could have killed off the contest. Bacca has always scored a lot of goals and he is doing the same thing here at Milan. It’s down to us to put him and the other forwards in a scoring position. Carpi are a side that battle for the entire duration of the match. This weekend’s game with Fiorentina is massive. We need to make up ground and recover as many points as possible on the sides above us in the table.” 

SINISA MIHAJLOVIC (press conference)
“The lads really wanted to win tonight and we now hope to go on and win the competition. Our first half performance was fantastic, while in the second half we complicated matters for ourselves, but I think we deserved to go through tonight. This season we have never had all five forwards available at one time. I firmly believe that with a full squad available, we can compete for a top-three finish. In attack we now have Bacca and Niang, while Balotelli is available again but he is not yet 100% fit. Menez is also on the comeback trail. The club knows that if there is a need to dip in to the transfer market, they will do it. I am trying to work hard and while I am in charge of Milan, I will continue with my head held high. The team are united and everything else that is said is just chit-chat. We gave away a cheap goal, and we made matters hard for ourselves, but after a shaky first 10 minutes after the restart, we took control again of the match and this is a deserved victory. In every match, we create a lot of chances, but we don’t capitalise enough on them. I am now focused on the next match at home to Fiorentina, and when the time comes, we will think about the semi-final of the TIM Cup. Bacca scored with a rabona tonight and he got it spot on. It’s a risky move but one that he has in his blood. When he pulls it off and scores, that’s great.”