Paulo Fonseca has seen Milan ‘evolve’ in their three consecutive Serie A victories and explains how Youssouf Fofana and Alvaro Morata are bringing ‘contagious’ energy to the team.
The Rossoneri made short work of Lecce, sweeping them aside with three goals in an intense five-minute spell going into half-time.
First Morata’s glancing header met the Theo Hernandez free kick, then the France full-back scored himself on a Rafael Leao assist before Christian Pulisic bundled the third over the line.
It was a third consecutive Serie A victory, even if that run was interrupted by a 3-1 Champions League home defeat to Liverpool. Did he expect this when two weeks ago he was on the verge of getting fired?
“Maybe people didn’t expect this, but that is the joy of football, that things can change so quickly – both positively and negatively – in the course of 90 minutes,” Fonseca told Sky Sport Italia.
“It was important to win after the derby and keep that run going, because we know that euphoria with our fans is difficult to get over, but the players understood how to get back down and played well.”
Fonseca seeing his Milan take shape
Youssouf Fofana was signed late in the summer, but since he started taking control of the Milan midfield, they have played a draw and three consecutive Serie A victories. Does he bring that balance?
“He is an important player, but I think the whole team has evolved over the last few matches. Fofana is in good shape and has more confidence, he is making the right choices and getting stronger,” agrees Fonseca.
The other big change was upfront, where Milan are playing more of a 4-4-2 formation with Morata as a support striker to centre-forward Tammy Abraham.
“This is only possible because Morata’s characteristics allow me to give him this role which is a trequartista often between the lines. What I really like is the energy that Alvaro brings, which is also contagious for his teammates. We saw today Rafa Leao working harder also because he sees the example set by Abraham and Morata.”
Milan are back on track in Serie A, but now need to do the same in the Champions League with a trip to Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday evening.
“It will be a totally different game. We were unlucky to be up against perhaps two of the teams who play the best football in Europe right now. Liverpool have remarkable positioning and Bayer Leverkusen are maybe even better,” concluded Fonseca.
“We know it will be very difficult, but we have to prepare. I tried not to look too much at Leverkusen and was totally focused on this match, but now I will go home and start preparing for that.”
Bayer Leverkusen won’t have the opportunity to rest players either, because they go head-to-head with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
