MILAN – Primavera coach Cristian Brocchi marked his 40th birthday today by overseeing a 2-0 win at home to Cesena. Speaking afterwards, this is what he had to say:

“It’s been a nice birthday because I asked the lads to maintain winning ways, the same attitude and performance. I am happy with how the team played and so I am left feeling satisfied. We are not a team that plays on the counter-attack and so when we find ourselves in those rare situations, we aren’t clinical. We need to work on this so we know how to make them count in the future. It’s taken too long to see what I wanted from the team and this is the only complaint I can have with the players. On the other hand, it was a lot harder to turn the situation around in terms of the group, unity and attitude and now I am pleased because even when we have lost, we have played as a team. I am very calm ahead of matches because I do not let myself get influenced by results but rather by what I sense from the players. Lately, it has all been very positive. Every match is a useful opportunity for the players to improve, the Viareggio Tournament has always been an important chance and it will be another one to show what they can do. There are a lot of players that are improving. Locatelli has that little bit more in some respects and I think he can be a member of the first team squad in the near future. He, along with lots of others, is developing and maturing and therefore the hope is to promote him and a few others to the first team at the end of the season.”