Conceicao: MIlan ignoring derby match until after Champions League

AC Milan are ignoring their weekend derby against city rivals Inter for the time being as they focus fully on securing a place in the Champions League round of 16 according to Sergio Conceicao.

Milan are sixth in the Champions League table, knowing a victory away to Dinamo Zagreb in their final match on Wednesday would see them bypass the knockout round entirely.

They are seventh in Serie A, meanwhile, and trail second-placed Inter by 16 points. But despite the need to pick up domestically, Conceicao says that he is not thinking about it until after the game against Zagreb.

“I think game-by-game, I don’t make calculations two games at a time,” he told a press conference.

“We have to focus on tomorrow which will be important and difficult to achieve the second goal.

“The first goal was to win the Super Cup and we did it well, the second goal is to finish in the top eight in the Champions League.

“We are focused on this match, we will think about the derby on Thursday on the plane returning home.”

Sérgio Conceição and Pulisic in the pre-match press conference in Zagreb

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Milan beat Inter in the Italian Super Cup final at the beginning of January, beating them 3-2 in Conceicao’s second game in charge. He says that talk of winning the Champions League as well is premature and needs to be tempered.

“There are many games left, the goal is to finish in the top four [in Serie A],” Conceicao said.

“We don’t think about the derby, let alone the final phase of the Champions League. Looking ahead, we don’t see the stairs in front of us and we risk tripping.”

Dinamo Zagreb, meanwhile, need to beat Milan to have any chance of making the play-off round. They are currently two spots below where they need to be, trailing 24th by two points.