(IN THE PHOTO: Montolivo at the adidas store) 
MILAN – Here are Riccardo Montolivo’s comments from Dubai where Milan are taking part in a winter training retreat ahead of Tuesday’s friendly with Real Madrid. The captain was speaking from an event organised by adidas at the adidas store in the Dubai Mall: These were the skipper’s opening comments: "There’s always lots of affection from the people. I didn’t expect it to be this much. It’s nice and satisfying and it makes you understand the importance of this club on a global scale. There’s a big desire to put on a great show for all of the fans in the match against Real Madrid. It’s a friendly, but it’s a “real” match. They’re the favourites, but it will be important for us. We have to go into this match with Serie A in mind and try and hit the ground running after the Christmas holidays, and try and arrive as ready as possible for the match against Sassuolo which for us is very important. The squad has looked good after the break, because there is a desire to keep up the positive run that we started before Christmas and we’re all motivated to keep it going."More on Tuesday’s match against the Spanish giants: "The two sides that have won the most Champions League titles will meet and for this reason it won’t be a friendly. Our objective next year is to get back in the most important competition. To return to these levels we need a bit of patience because this is a side that is rebuilding. Our objective is to get back in the top-3 positions. It won’t be easy, because there is lots of competition, but it is down to us to give continuity to our results. That is the secret." A word about the current situation in Serie A: "Roma and Juve have shown themselves to be stronger than us in the past years, but in the head to head matches, I don’t believe there has been such a big difference. We’ve not had consistency, something which they haven’t been missing. I am happy to be back and fit. That was the most important thing. After 6 months out, your fitness won’t be excellent but I am happy and I hope to improve match by match to try and make myself available to the team and the coach."Montolivo continued: "The best defence wins the league. In the first part of the season we conceded too many goals but in the last few matches we’ve improved on this aspect. On the other hand, we’ve become less clinical and so we will try and improve on that. We’ve become more balanced as a team and I think that in Rome in the final half an hour in 10 men we saw this attitude and this desire to be a team in every moment. It’s been a year characterised by a big disappointment of having not taken part at the World Cup, but they are the risks of the trade and never more than this year have I understood how much I love this job." A word on coach Filippo Inzaghi: "The coach experiences the match in a complete manner, almost in a visceral manner. It was his strength as a player and the same goes as a coach. I believe the matches against Napoli and Roma have given an increased confidence to the team and it is results that provide this self-confidence and that we can compete with every team. Our aim is to try and win every match."