Allegri wary of Lazio threat

AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri believes his side are entering an important part of their season as they take on Lazio on Tuesday.

Milan lead third-placed Lazio by seven points in the Serie A and a win for Allegri’s side at the San Siro would give them some breathing space at the top of the table.

But Allegri is well aware of the qualities Lazio possess and has warned his side not to underestimate their opponents.

“Lazio are doing great things, they have great players and staff,” Allegri said.

“Of course Lazio have great technical skills and players; Hernanez, Mauri, Kozak, who is young but is doing very well, Ledesma, Matuzalem, Brocchi.”

“They also have a good defensive department and are very well organised.”

“They are very good in terms of counterattacks and therefore we should be extra careful.”

Milan have had a busy schedule so far in 2011, playing seven games since returning from the winter break on January 7, but Allegri said his side would need to stay focused with more key matches in the coming weeks.

“We should be extra careful because we’re in a moment of the championship when it is too important to lose points,” he said.

“Our objective is to reach 80 points and in order to do this we should be winning 11 matches.”

“This is going to be our fifth or sixth match when we have been playing every three days and we have played with 10 players in the last match.”

“So we should be focused and make sacrifices because the matches against Catania, Lazio and Genoa are very important for the championship.”

Allegri confirmed strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho would both start against Lazio, with Alexandre Pato and Antonio Cassano to compete for the remaining spot in the Milan attack.