Fonseca: It is easy to play against Real Madrid, and we deserved to win

Milan coach Paulo Fonseca appeared in press statements after the victory over Real Madrid 3-1 in the fourth round of the Champions League.

The coach said:: “ I think we won because the players had the courage to come here and play their game, without fear of anything, we wanted to keep the ball, we did great things in the first half and then we struggled a little bit more after the break, but we did it together and we fully deserved this win not just because we scored Three goals, but we also played with high quality.”

He added: “I don’t agree when people say that Italian football is defensive, we can be a team with more initiative and dominance.” On the match in Europe, these are the characteristics of the team. We demonstrated that Italian teams do not only defend, but we play the ball and have great positioning. The team has the patience to keep the ball and choose the right moment to attack.”

He continued: Alvaro has this ability to link the midfield with the attack, in When Abraham does not have these qualities. When Morata came off, it's true that we stopped having the ball so much, however, Alvaro was really tired and we needed to create a chance. Abraham works well defensively and keeps the ball, but of course he is not like Morata.”

And he explained: “Why did he talk to Noah Okafor so much before he entered? This was during the period of the strongest pressure from Real Madrid. We must not forget that Real Madrid overturned many results in the closing stages. They lost 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund and beat them 5-2.

He noted: “We tried.” Defending better as a team, but we also lost quality in controlling the ball in those moments when we had extra space to attack on the counter-attack. However, it was still a deserved win.”

He continued: “Honestly, I have to look at the overall context. For the way I like to play football, these are matches with more space to play in. People outside Italy do not understand how difficult the Italian League is. The Monza team is watching man-to-man. Cagliari will be watching man-to-man in the next match. You will see that Atalanta was the only team that was able to beat Bayer Leverkusen last season and they are watching man-to-man.”

And he continued: “It is frankly more difficult to play in the Italian League than the Champions League because of these tactical issues. It is easier for us to play tonight, even if it is against Real Madrid, the best team in the world. Because it is completely different.”

He concluded: “This may be the reason why the matches in Italy are not as entertaining, but that is because they are really difficult.”