Allegri: Modric ‘on the bench’ against Fiorentina, Leao ‘more concrete’

Massimiliano Allegri says Luka Modric won’t start against Fiorentina tomorrow, but is happy to see Rafael Leao becoming ‘more concrete.’

Allegri previewed tomorrow’s Serie A match against Fiorentina at a press conference on Saturday.

The Rossoneri only played two days ago against Genoa and were held to a 1-1 draw at San Siro.

“Nkunku is fit and available; I have four players up front, two on the bench and two will play. Modric will hardly play; he will be on the bench with us,” Allegri said via Milannews.

“We’ve recovered quite well. We will face a Fiorentina that is returning to form. The table doesn’t reflect the value of the team. After the win against Cremonese and the draw against Lazio, we’ll find a tough environment. It will be important to play a strong match technically and physically. It’s a shame we didn’t win against Genoa, but that point will be important.

“Fiorentina is a team that shouldn’t be in that position. Regarding the 11 points lost, football is like that. If we have these points, it means we deserve them. We have 39 points, and we need to focus on the points we have and improve our performance. Against Genoa, we needed to improve in the final 20 meters. With ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, you get nowhere.”

Who will replace Modric?

“Ricci and Jashari are two excellent players. Ricci has played 1000 minutes and is very reliable. I’m happy. Now we have four matches close together, so there may be more changes,” Allegri replied.

“When you play one match a week, it’s hard to rotate starters. Jashari has a bright future, and Ricci has been very useful. I don’t know who I will play between the two, or maybe both will play.”

January signing Niclas Fullkrug has made two substitute appearances. Could he start in Florence tomorrow?

“I’ll decide tomorrow morning. All our strikers are fit; two will play. This gives me the possibility to make different choices and solutions,” Allegri said.

Genoa missed a penalty kick in the stoppages on Thursday, but complained about Strahinja Pavlovic, who was seen digging a little hole in the penalty spot before Nicolae Stanciu’s miss.

“That’s part of the beauty of football sometimes. There are moments that, when you look back at them later, even make you smile,” Allegri said.

Genoa coach De Rossi said he expected a different attitude from the Milan players.

“I don’t comment on what others say. I believe Daniele is a coach who started recently and has the potential to do well,” Allegri replied.

“The most important thing for him and everyone is to succeed in their careers.”

Rafael Leao scored a late equaliser for Milan in their last game, and the Portuguese has netted eight times in 14 appearances across all competitions this season, once every 116 minutes.

“He was much better in the second half [against Genoa]. He made more runs,” Allegri noted.

“He still needs to reach peak condition. Starting to score is important for him; he’s much calmer now, so he can forget things that don’t matter to football and focus on what’s important for a striker, scoring goals.

“He is maturing a lot in the match. He’s become more concrete; he enjoys scoring more than doing flashy things that are less effective.”