AC Milan coach Fatih Terim confirmed that Christian Abbiati will be his first choice keeper after the youngster excelled in the Amsterdam tournament this weekend, increasing speculation that Sebastiano Rossi's days at the club are numbered.
AC Milan followed up their 1-0 win over Ajax by losing 2-1 to Valencia on Saturday evening, and Terim admitted afterwards that the defeat could have been even heavier if it was not for the heroics of goalkeeper Abbiati.
"We have lots of work to do, but it shows that you can't possibly play two big games in 48 hours," explained the Turkish coach.
"We were lucky that Abbiati played so well," he admitted. "He had a wonderful match and is certainly our first-choice keeper. I have total faith in him."
Terim's words will not be well received by Milan's veteran keeper Sebastiano Rossi, who sparked rumours of a fall out after missing the match against Valencia.
The notoriously-temperamental Rossi was reportedly absent because of injury, but sources close to the camp suggested the 37-year-old star was unhappy about being left out of Milan's first game in the tournament against Ajax.
Meanwhile, Terim is refusing to read too much into the Valencia defeat. "Valencia played well and they deserved to win," he conceded, after watching his side surrender a 1-0 lead that had been given to them by new-signing Filippo Inzaghi.
"I need to try to change the Milan mentality a little. I have inherited a team that likes to play far too far away from the opposition goal. I want to get them pressing more and playing in a more attacking style," he revealed.
Terim also explained why he has recently signed Danish defender Martin Laursen from Parma. "I am pleased to have signed him. He is a strong, physical player who is good in the air," he said.
"What's more, he used to playing in a four-man defence, and that is the system we will be using here.
"Kakha Kaladze has done well in defence, but with injuries in midfield it would be nice to use him as cover. Laursen allows me to do just that."
With regards to Romanian star Cosmin Contra, Terim admitted: "He still has to learn about our system. He played a 3-5-2 at Alaves and that gave him the chance to play further forward than he is allowed to do here."
Most nagyon fáradt vagyok hogy leírjam a lényegét a cikknek de azért ha valakinek van egy csepp ideje az írja le azok kedvéért akik nem tudnak angolul.
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