Gattuso pours Milan praise

Gennaro Gattuso has poured praise on his entire Milan squad but reminded them to play with ‘great humility’ against Lazio on Tuesday.

Milan beat Napoli 2-0 to set up a Coppa Italia semi-final with Lazio, the first leg of which takes place tomorrow, and Gattuso was keen to highlight his squad’s strengths before the encounter.

“We’re certainly in a good run of form, but we’re facing a team who have become a stalwart of Italian football,” the Coach told Rai Sport.

“We have great respect for Lazio and we know we have a difficult game to face, but we’ll certainly contest it with great humility.

“No Coppa Italia since 2003? We plan to prepare well for this match and then we’ll face Sassuolo on Saturday, but we will take care of that later.

“The credit doesn’t belong to only Piatek and Paqueta but rather the whole team. The enthusiasm of the fans, however, makes us very happy.

“We have to press them high and then we’ll see where we end up. Gigio has changed prefix. He’s just turned 20 and ‘adult’ is a big word.

“More than 150 appearances in the Milan jersey is something incredible for someone so young.

“He’s aware that he can always improve, plus he’s grown a lot mentally. He must keep going like he is.

“Biglia’s fine, he’s training non-stop with us after a serious injury. He must be an added value for us.

“It’s important to get him ready. He must give us something, even when he starts on the bench, because he’s an important leader for us.

“Bakayoko’s playing incredibly like our other midfielders. All of us must be rowing in the same direction.

“There are a few long faces from those who are playing less, but I happily talk to my players and explain my choices to them.

“Paqueta deserves a Brazil call-up. He was already in the national team before he came to Milan.

“He combines quantity with quality, so he can certainly be included in the Brazilian national team.

“Franck [Kessie] is a player who gives us dynamism, runs into the box and drives on the team.

“Because of the amount of work he does it’s normal that he sometimes makes a mistake, but I’m very happy with him.”