THE QUALITY OF THE GAMES

Milan will aim on Alberto Gilardino for a long time, because he is a player of quality who has always scored goals. And with games with quality more than quantity, will remain in the run for the European Championships. This is what Carlo Ancelotti said today.

MILANELLO - With Carlo Ancelotti, the first topic which is discussed is that of the recovery of the situation in the Coppa Italia (1-2 after the first leg at San Siro in favour of Catania): "We don't want to take any risks for this game, therefore the players who will play on Sunday will remain at home and we shall rest them. In attack there will be Gilardino. Paloschi? He will be there if we shall play with two attackers. Pirlo should play, just like there will be the players who did not play on Sunday from the first minute, that is Oddo, Cafu, Gattuso and all the others. We shall also verify if it will be possible to field for a half Jankulovski so to have him available on Sunday at Udine. It's not easy to obtain the qualification, but we shall try."

Then the questions went on Pato. The replies of Carlo Ancelotti: "We shall try to keep a low profile with him, in our daily rapport here at Milanello. Now we must insert him gradually in the team. Pato played a really good game, but he must learn to play in the team, to help, just like the team will try to serve him in the best possible way. Pato must be protected, he is very young. We must help him, and we shall do so, to live this experience with humlility and seriousness. For the future we shall see. Some games we shall play them with two attacker plus the attacking midfielder and Seedorf, others we shall play them more covered. Everyone will be able to rest in turns, including Pato. Pato is a striker, he can play upfront even on his own, but it doesn't mean that he must always play. We shall be close to him. Ronaldo? He surprised me more than PAto, as there were more question marks on his performances. However, we have chosen him, Ronaldo, for Milan-Napoli, becuse we wanted to play with low balls. Seedorf? He did well both as a midfielder and as an attacking midfielder. Now he has some perplexities about going backwards, but it's not my interest nor his to talk about it now. Oddo? Against Napoli I opted for a more covered defence. Inzaghi? He has the bronchitis, after all he had to pay some tribute for a 2007 which was so generous with him...".

Therefore the Alberto Gilardino chapter: "He will play his games, and he will be useful, even this year he has made his goal tally. However, Gilardino is there, just like Inzaghi. We want to make all our four attackers give their best. Gilardino knows that there is competition at Milan, there always was and it's normal to live these situations here. For the rest, he is an important player, he has quality and considering the age of Ronaldo and Inzaghi, he perfectly knows that Milan will aim on him. Gilardino must not live the games as an exam, it would be a mistake. Here at Milan he had alternating performances, but he has always scored his goals. That Alberto is Milan material we have evaluated it and decided this when we bought him; there are no doubts about this. Teh fact that Gilardino plays Catania-Milan is not a failure, as at Milan it can happen to stay out but also in these moments he must give his best when he goes on the pitch. It's not important the quantity of the games, but the quality of the games. If Gilardino will play his games with quality, Roberto Donadoni will surely call him up for the European Championships. However, he is very well right now."