(IN THE PHOTO: Nigel De Jong during the practice match)MILANELLO –The players took part in a double training session on Tuesday at Milanello and they will be working hard again today, Wednesday, in another double training session. On Thursday afternoon meanwhile the Rossoneri will play a practice match against Lega Pro side Pro Piacenza. After the rest for Ferragosto (Italian bank-holiday, Friday, 15th August), Milan will train twice on Saturday before taking on Valencia in a friendly at the Mestalla Stadium on Sunday.Focusing back on Tuesday, this is what the players did:MORNING TRAINING: The players met up on the synthetic pitch at 10.00 this morning for a warm-up and some floor exercises. The group then worked on fitness on the raised pitch behind the gym.
Individuals: Abate worked on his personalised training programme with fitness coach Daniele Tognaccini on the lower pitch. El Shaarawy, Mexes, Zapata, Bonera, Pazzini, Mastour, Alex, Menez, Rami, Niang, Zaccardo, Honda, Albertazzi and Balotelli did running drills on the raised pitch. The rest of the players trained in the gym.AFTERNOON TRAINING: The session began at 17.00 and after a morning of fitness, the players began to train with the ball. It started with some light-hearted exercises before getting down to serious business focusing on technical and tactical drills. The session came to a close with a practice match in the rain.