Milan coach is wary despite winning Napoli

"Milan did not play well after the opening whistle. Napoli came in better. They were more proactive and ready to confront us. But Milan ended the game in favor. We regret not being able to increase the profit. in the final minutes," Pioli told Amazon Prime Video.

Playing at home, but Milan let Napoli dominate and fortunately did not concede first. However, Pioli's students promoted their good intentions to counter-attack, and opened the scoring at the end of the first half thanks to Ismael Bennacer. Each team hit the opponent's goal once at the end of the first half and at the beginning of the second, but neither side was awarded a goal.

Milan played better in the second half of the second half, after Andre Zambo Anguissa received a second yellow card. As a result, they regained possession and dominated the ball, but did not create opportunities to widen the distance. The 1-0 victory only gave Pioli's teachers a small advantage in the second leg at Diego Maradona in the middle of next week.

"This result opens the door for Milan to progress. But no result can ever guarantee that. Next week we will go to Napoli with confidence and focus. Milan understands the difficulties that await us. ahead," commented Pioli.

Napoli are often marginally better in recent encounters between the two teams. But Milan are having a good head-to-head record against their rivals this season. Napoli's five defeats since the start of the season include two against Milan, including a 0-4 defeat 10 days ago in Serie A.

According to the author of the only goal of this match, Bennacer, Milan will have to make more efforts to prepare for the return leg. The Algerian midfielder said: "We will meet Bologna in the middle of the first and back legs, so we need to plan to recover the best. Today, I am happy because of the attitude of the whole team. There were times when we were together. suffered the match, but Milan approached the game in the right direction and played fair with the opponent."