Leonardo’s Milan ready for season defining week

(GSM) – Milan manager Leonardo has stated that his men are ready for the season defining week.

The Rossoneri face Roma at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, as they bid for a win to close the gap on Serie A leaders and city rivals Internazionale to just one point.

And later during the week, on Wednesday they travel to Old Trafford needing to overturn a 3-2 first-leg deficit against Manchester United to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Leonardo said: “Tomorrow night we will play against Roma, who are third in the table, and on Wednesday we will face Manchester United.

“Matches between Milan and the Red Devils are always extraordinary challenges. Milan are in good shape and ready to face these challenges. Inter are four points ahead and I cannot think of any result other than a victory.

“Milan have had a difficult start to the championship but this has not led to total exclusion from the title race. Anything can still happen.”

Their weekend opponents, Roma, need to win having slipped off the pace last week, when they were held to a 2-2 draw at Napoli after conceding two late goals.

After a run of nine straight victories, Roma have stuttered in recent weeks and were dumped out of the Europa League by Panathinaikos.

But manager Claudio Ranieri insisted all the pressure is on Milan to overhaul Inter and believes his men can take full advantage.

“Milan are the leading contenders to take the title from Inter and they will fight to keep that position, but it is a burden for them,” said Ranieri.

“We have the advantage of being more calm. We must keep this about ourselves and continue to do well.

“I have to commend my team for what we have done until now, especially against Napoli where we reacted well to our exit from the Europa League.

“We need the right attitude against Milan and I am proud of my guys because they worked hard. We are on the right track and should continue to do well.”

Ranieri will have Luca Toni, David Pizarro and Julio Sergio available while Milan have injury concerns over top scorer Alexandre Pato.

Pato is unlikely to be risked with the game against United looming large in midweek.

Milan beat Roma earlier in the season with Pato scoring the winner, but Ranieri warned his men not to take them lightly just because of their injury problems.

“We are talking about a team equipped to do well without players like that. I hope that they are affected by the absences but I think not,” Ranieri added.

“When we lost to them at the San Siro it was one of the black spots of our season and we went on to lose three straight games. We will do everything possible to erase those memories.”