Soccer Football - Serie A - AC Milan v Juventus - San Siro, Milan, Italy - November 23, 2024 AC Milan coach Paulo Fonseca reacts REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo/ File Photo
(Reuters) - AC Milan manager Paulo Fonseca urged his players not to underestimate the challenge posed by Slovan Bratislava in Tuesday's Champions League match even though the Slovakian side are bottom of the standings after losing all four of their matches.
While Slovan Bratislava have yet to earn a point and have a minus-13 goal difference, Milan are 20th with six points and within the play-off section.
"Am I at risk of underestimating tomorrow’s match? I expect that won’t happen, today we talked about the importance of winning tomorrow. We mustn’t look at their history," Fonseca told a press conference on Monday.
"We must think that tomorrow we are playing at their home. It will be important to have the right attitude."
Fonseca added that they often perform better against teams that on paper appear stronger than them, such as their 3-1 win against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in the last Champions League round.
"What I know is that against the big teams we have done well and that (we have) done less well against the small teams," Fonseca said.
"We work to be a team with the attitude and ambitions shown against the big teams, we work to always be the same team.
"The Champions League is the Champions League. Everyone likes to be in these games, the motivation is greater. I expect them to be able to play the Champions League tomorrow with this motivation."
Milan faced criticism for their dull 0-0 draw with Juventus at the weekend, with Fonseca admitting his side fell short of their best.
"We are aware of what we did well and what we did less well. We did several things less well," Fonseca said.
"The problem is that the dimension of things in Milan seems different to me: a draw with Juve for us is a defeat, for others a victory."
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
