AC Milan defender Fikayo Tomori has stated that the Rossoneri want revenge against Chelsea as the two teams face off for the second time in a week on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League.
Milan were defeated by Graham Potter’s men 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, with ex-Blues player Tomori having a return to forget. The victory took Chelsea above Milan in the group on a head-to-head basis, occupying the final Round of 16 spot behind current leaders RB Salzburg.
Tomori was at fault for two of Chelsea’s goals last week as Milan were thoroughly outplayed, only managing to register a single shot on target throughout the match.
The England International acknowledged his mistakes and explained how the last fixture was not what he’s used to seeing from Milan.
“I think for us, we knew that it wasn’t us,” said Tomori at Monday’s press conference.
“We didn’t play as well as we know how to … how we’ve been playing since I’ve been here, a year and a half, a year and three quarters or whatever it is.
“Especially games like this where it’s tough, in a tough stadium in the Champions League, that’s where we want to really show ourselves. And we didn’t really manage to do it, which is disappointing for us.
“I think every game I try to give our best, and last week I know I didn’t do that.”
Tomori bagged a goal in Milan’s 2-0 win over Juventus on the weekend as the Rossoneri kept pace with current Serie A leaders in what is panning out to be the most exciting title race in Europe, with 4 points separating first and sixth place.
READ HERE: Why Serie A is the Most Exciting League in Europe
The Chelsea academy graduate has warned that Milan want revenge after an impressive win on the weekend.
“After Chelsea I was angry and I wanted to give everything on the pitch (for victory over Juventus), then I scored and I felt this feeling: I was excited and happy. I wanted to cancel the London game and scoring was a good one feeling,” continued Tomori.
“It was a bad game for us, we didn’t play as usual as I am used to seeing in the last year and a half. But we managed to react positively, playing an excellent match against Juve. This allowed us to ward off the defeat against Chelsea and we are here tomorrow to take our revenge.”
“And now we have another opportunity directly a week after, in front of our fans as well, to put that game against Chelsea to bed and hopefully put in a good performance and hopefully get a good result.”
Chelsea head into the game off the back of another win against Wolves on the weekend as Graham Potter continued his unbeaten start to life with the Blues. He spoke about how he’s looking forward to his side’s trip to the San Siro.
“It’s an incredible place here and a very different game,” he said at press conference.
“AC Milan will try to use the home advantage, as we did [last week]. Two good teams, two evenly-matched teams. I’m looking forward to it.”
Chelsea are waiting for news on the fitness of star midfielder N’Golo Kante, who’s been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge in recent weeks. The World Cup winner has been out injured since mid-August and only recently made a return to training.
“We’re just waiting for [Kante’s] reaction from training,” said Potter.
“It is certainly not ideal so we will have to wait and see the extent of it and go from there.”
Prediction
AC Milan 2 – 1 Chelsea
This could backfire as Graham Potter has really given his players that ‘new manager bounce’ since his arrival and is still unbeaten in all competitions. But given the stakes and how tight the group is, Milan will be desperate to win and make the home advantage count, as the crowd will certainly play its part as they aim to steer the Scudetto holders to the next round of the UCL