MILAN – Mattia De Sciglio is confident Milan are working well as the countdown begins to the start of the Serie A season. Speaking to the Milan Channel after the rossoneri’s 2-0 win in the Italian Cup over Perugia, the Italian defender said:

“We were very happy about President Berlusconi’s presence at the San Siro for the match and he gave us the right motivation. We always try and give our best and do what the coach asks of us in the build-up to the match. We’re playing with a different formation compared to last season, but we’re working well and we can only get better. I’ll find the back of the net soon I am sure! I’m simply focused on staying relaxed and working hard. I try to stay calm and work hard, and the coach will then make his decisions. We still have a whole season ahead of us and we must take things one game at a time. The coach told us that he wanted us to attack more after Perugia were reduced to 10 men, but he said that we played well all the same.”

MILAN – Having defeated Perugia in the Coppa Italia (TIM Cup), Sinisa Mihajlovic called on the squad to keep on working as they have been doing ahead of this weekend’s Serie A opening round which pits Milan away at Fiorentina. Speaking to the Milan Channel, this is what the coach had to say:

“We wrapped up the result in the first half, but I did not like the attitude of the team in the second half because we must always give our all. We did well in terms of possession and we carried out what we have been working on in training. Romagnoli and Ely both played well, but thanks also to the rest of the squad. Our forwards are the first line of defence.”

The coach added: “It’s not acceptable for the fans to whistle during the match. The club will now evaluate the decisions to make on the transfer market. We will now continue to train as we have been doing ahead of the match with Fiorentina. If Menez wants to play in behind the two strikers or as a support striker, he will have to do what he is asked of him. He has been training with the group for just 4 days and naturally he is lacking in match fitness. It’s never easy to win. We should never think about easy or tough opponents, but only about winning.”

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Milan defeat Perugia and go through to 4th round of the TIM Cup.

(IN THE PHOTO: Luiz Adriano celebrates his goal)  

MILAN –  First half goals from Keisuke Honda and Luiz Adriano helped Milan to a 2-0 victory over Perugia on Monday night at the San Siro and send the rossoneri through to the fourth round of the Coppa Italia (TIM Cup) where they will face Crotone.

Sinisa Mihajlovic, taking charge of his first official match on the Milan bench, fielded a strong line-up as promised during his pre-match press conference which included new strike pairing Luiz Adriano and Carlos Bacca.

However, it was an old head that took centre stage in the early proceedings and on 10 minutes Honda broke the deadlock with a left foot strike. Just like last season in Milan-Lazio, Honda netted the first goal of the competitive season for the rossoneri.

The Milan no. 10 then turned provider just before the half hour mark playing through Luiz Adriano who marked his official Milan debut with a goal. Bacca thought he had made it 3-0 moments before the first half whistle, only to see his strike ruled out for offside.

After the break, Milan went in search of a third goal and De Sciglio immediately went close forcing the Perugia shot-stopper into an excellent save. Any hopes of the visitors getting back into the game meanwhile were dashed on 64 minutes when Lanzafame was given his marching orders for a second yellow card.

With an extra man, the rossoneri continued to dominate possession and dictate the play, finishing the game strongly only to find an in-form Rosati in the way of Milan opening up a three goal cushion.

This is how the two teams lined-up at the start of the match:

MILAN: Diego Lopez; De Sciglio, Ely, Romagnoli, Antonelli; Bertolacci, De Jong, Bonaventura; Honda; Luiz Adriano, Bacca. Subs: Abbiati, Donnarumma, Abate, Alex, Paletta, Jose Mauri, Montolivo, Nocerino, Poli, Suso, Cerci, Matri, Menez. Coach: Sinisa Mihajlovic.

PERUGIA: Rosati; Del Prete, Volta, Mancini, Rossi; Rizzo, Salifu; Fabinho, Di Carmine, Lanzafame; Ardemagni. Subs: Zima, Comotto, Alhassan, Rizzo, Taddei, Spinazzola, Gomes Ribeiro, Boscolo, Mendez, Zapata. Coach: Pierpaolo Bisoli.

MILAN – Rodrigo Ely spoke to RAI SPORT at the end of the first half of the TIM Cup match with Perugia. Here are the young defender’s thoughts: “The coach is relying on the young players in the squad and this was seen during pre-season. The more senior players in the squad are helping us a lot and we have to continue like this and keep on working. We have to think about putting the team first and we must keep on working for each other, as we have been doing.”

MILAN – 6 Milan youth players have been called-up to the Italy U-16 squad. They are: Alessandro Plizzari, Raoul Bellanova, Bara Ngom Mamadou, Nigel Kieremateng, Vittorio Vigolo and Moris Sportelli.