D’Aversa hopes ‘beauty of football’ can help injury-hit Empoli overcome ‘stronger’ Milan | OneFootball

Empoli head coach Roberto D’Aversa has suggested that the sheer amount of absences that his side are dealing with makes it tough for them to get a result against AC Milan.

The Tuscan side are in a good position in the table at the moment as they sit in 10th, having stayed in the top flight by just one point last season. Thus, a game like Milan away could be deemed a bit of a ‘free hit’, which always presents some added danger, especially given the Rossoneri’s inconsistencies.

A quick look down the injury page on Transfermarkt shows that Empoli will be without Saba Sazonov, Jacopo Fazzini, Matt De Sciglio and Nicolas Haas for the game due to injury problems, two of them ligament problems. Szymon Zurkowski has also been out recently with an issue.

D’Aversa spoke in his pre-match press conference on the eve of the trip to Milan and he was able to give an update on some of the injured players, and his comments were relayed by TMW.

How is the team?

“Zurkowski is not among those called up, nor is De Sciglio. The three who returned the other day have worked and have improved their physical condition. For example, we have accelerated the return of Anjorin.

“Among those called up there are also boys from the Primavera in addition to those who train with us regularly. We are in an emergency, especially in midfield and we need to make assessments both on tomorrow’s match and the following ones.

“The minutes have improved, but they are not yet available for ninety minutes. So I will reserve the decision at the last minute.”

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Will this Empoli team try get a result tomorrow?

“We have to try to leave San Siro with a positive result, the team must be determined and focused. And above all we have to be proactive and have personality when we have the ball.

“If we do everything 100% it may not be enough, but we must not complain about anything against such a strong team. Milan are stronger than us on paper, but the beauty of football is that when you go on the pitch you also measure yourself against better opponents. You have to go there with courage.”

What do you think of Leao?

“Leao is a great player, I can give an opinion but I can’t get into the dynamics of the other team. It’s normal that there are expectations, he has important qualities and perhaps he could make more difference. I certainly hope he can do it from the next round. To give an opinion, you have to train the players.”