Galliani: Udinese win was vital

Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani says his side’s 2-1 win over Udinese at the start of the month has been key to their recent good form.

Milan were 1-0 down with 13 minutes left, but they managed to turn the game around to win 2-1.

Since then they have won two games in succession – including a 4-0 thumping of Arsenal in the Champions League.

Their most recent victory came on Sunday with Sulley Muntari scoring on his debut as Milan brushed aside Cesena 3-1 to return to the top of Serie A.

“If I’m not wrong we have one point more than last season, we got six points in the last two matches away, so that’s very good for us,” Galliani said.

“We understood in Udinese that something was going to change, I don’t know how long it will last, but definitely it was a turning point.”

“Without those two goals we scored against Udinese it’s unlikely we would have scored the other seven goals in the two following matches.”

Galliani praised Ghanaian Muntari, 27, who was making his first appearance for Milan after arriving on loan from Inter.

“We always buy players that we think are good players, otherwise we wouldn’t buy them,” he said.

“Muntari started well, he played well in the first two or three days of training sessions and scored in his first match with Milan. He must be blessed.”

Striker Maxi Lopez was delighted to win on their trip to Cesena and said it would prepare them well for their crunch top-of-the-table clash with Juventus on Saturday.

“We are happy with the three points we got here at Cesena where it’s always difficult to win, and now we need to think about our next important match,” he said.

“The match against Juventus will be very important for us, but the season is long and anything can still happen, so we need to prepare and play with that awareness.”

“It’s very important that new elements like me or Sulley Muntari have found our way to be part of the team and are useful to the group as we were today.”

“I had to work for the team today and didn’t think about scoring goals, but the most important thing is the three points we get.”