AC Milan head coach Sérgio Conceição praised U.S. men’s national team captain Christian Pulisic on Thursday, saying he has “great confidence” in the midfielder.
Conceição’s comments were made following Milan’s 3-0 win over rivals Inter in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals on Wednesday.
Milan advanced to the finals with the 4-1 aggregate victory. A first-half brace from Serbian striker Luka Jović led the way for Milan, but Pulisic’s influence on both sides of the ball was also essential to the victory, according to Conceição.
“He sacrificed himself for the team,” Conceição said in his post-game remarks. “He had a good game. We had to balance the central areas, he and Jovic were important on Asllani. He ran a lot, he gave a lot to the team.”
Pulisic put in a 78-minute shift before being replaced by Ruben Loftus-Cheek. He had 41 touches during the match but lacked polish at times on the ball, completing 22 of his 28 pass attempts, though his defensive performance was sound.
“Then it’s clear, he lacks a bit of freshness with the ball,” said Conceição. “When we spend more time without the ball, for players like Puli, it becomes more difficult. But I have great confidence in him.”
Milan’s victory on Wednesday keeps their hopes of European soccer alive, with a spot in the UEFA Europa league awarded to the winners. Milan are in the midst of a bitterly disappointing league campaign and currently sit ninth in the Serie A table.
The club are ever-present in European competition and have not missed continental play since the 2016-2017 season, when they finished seventh. They are eight points behind the final European spot awarded for league play.
Those poor performances have put Conceição himself at risk. On Wednesday, he deflected questions about his own job security.
“Conceicao is not important,” he said. “It is important to win against Venezia and then, when the final comes, we will be happy to do it. It’s not that we have already won it. I’m the same coach as two days ago, it’s not that everything is beautiful or everything is ugly. We need to find balance also on an emotional level, not just as a team.”
Milan will face the winner of Thursday’s semi-final between Bologna, who won the first leg 3-0, and Empoli in the Coppa Italia final at the Stadio Olimpico on May 14.
(Photo: Alessandro Sabattini / Getty Images)
