26 July 2016
In the aftermath of the Bianconeri’s 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday, Massimiliano Allegri, Miralem Pjanic and Norberto Neto met the media at Melbourne Cricket Ground to share their thoughts on a hard-fought victory against the Londoners, their pre-season progress so far and the upcoming campaign.
Massimiliano Allegri
“It was a good game, another useful run out for the boys and for 60 minutes we played well. It was important to monitor the players’ physical conditions and to see where they are at in terms of technique and tactics. We’re improving, we’ll continue working hard ahead of the next friendly against South China in Hong Kong. For the first hour, the boys really held their own, showing great determination and keeping a good shape. Regarding (Medhi) Benatia and (Miralem) Pjanic, both put in excellent performances considering this was their first match with us. There’s great potential to improve their conditions physically and to gear up for a great season ahead.”
Miralem Pjanic
“We played well today. There’s obviously areas to work on, but we showed great intensity and followed the boss’ orders. Nobody got injured, which is very important, and we’re happy that we won. We want to end the tour on a high in Hong Kong. We now turn our focus back to training for that match (against South China), after which we return to Italy and team up with the whole squad. Then we’ve only three weeks until the season starts so that will be an important opportunity to meet many more new team-mates. I can’t wait to get working with them all. I’m really happy to be playing my football here this year. I’ve seen the fixture list and it will be great to kick off the campaign in front of the home supporters against a top side in Fiorentina.”
Norberto Neto
“Our games here have served us well in terms of rebuilding confidence and getting our fitness levels up. It’s great to be here working well and also helping the team out on the field. We’ve trained at high intensity for the past few weeks both here and back in Vinovo and we’ll continue to do so when we return, keeping sight of our goals for the season to come. We have to keep pushing a little more each day and put ourselves in the best possible position to have a successful campaign.”
