SHENZHEN - A press conference was held in Shenzhen, China, ahead of the derby match against Inter on Saturday. Mihajlovic was joined in the press conference by veterans Montolivo and De Jong. The coach spoke about the warm welcome the club have received since landing in China. He said:
"I am very happy to be here in China and I would like to thank the Chinese fans for how they have welcomed us, with so much passion and love. We must be proud to be called up for these luxury friendlies here. Our aim here is to put on a good show and to increase our number of fans and the aim is to take Milan back to the top of international and domestic football. There are few clubs that have our history and our followers and we will do all we can to entertain the fans. I don't know what will happen with Ibra, we have a great team and we will do well no matter who arrives at the club. I would like to get used to winning the derby straight away. I expect improvements in every area, even when it comes to character. You don't play in derbies, you win them. Let's try to win one straight away, it will not be easy but we are Milan and we always have to play to win."
Then it was the turn of club captain, Riccardo Montolivo, to speak. He said: "Missing out on a World Cup is never easy but finally I fell good. Last season I had a lot of problems tied to the operation. This time I have done pre-season with the team, which I hadn't done last season, and hopefully I can contribute."
Nigel De Jong spoke about his recent contract renewal with the rossoneri. He said: "I had a lot of time to think about the future and I decided that the best thing was to stay at Milan. I am very happy, as are my family. I believe in this new project, we'll return to European football and we willfight for the title. That is why I am here."