On Thursday, Milan played Olympiacos at BMO Field in Toronto for the opening match of the Guinness International Champions Cup, a European club tournament played throughout various cities in North America. Before the match, Giampaolo Pazzini sat down for an exclusive interview with Forza Italian Football to discuss the upcoming Milan season.
The Rossoneri forward opened up on his thoughts on the upcoming season, what had gone wrong last season, and the future of Milan under the direction of new head coach, Filippo Inzaghi. Having finished in a disappointing eighth spot in 2013/2014, Milan are looking forward to a more successful 2014/2015.
“Last year wasn’t a very good year for Milan. It was bad and everyone was disappointed.” Pazzini admitted. “We are better than eighth place, we should have finished fourth or fifth.”
However, despite the squad’s poor performance, Milan’s newly adopted philosophy is to not dwell on past mistakes, but to focus on current and future opportunities.
“Everybody is working towards a good year.” Pazzini stressed and insists that the new Inzaghi’s leadership plays a large role in that.
“He has great enthusiasm for the team and wants to do something good with it. And that something good included finishing the season in a Champions League spot.
“Milan is looking forward into going back into the Champions League,” Pazzini promised. “Two years ago we had a good season; we finished in third and got into Champions League. We have the base to start again.”
Moving forward, Milan plans to mark a new era for the future. However, before they do that, Pazzini is focusing on his time playing across the Atlantic in the Guinness Cup.
“This is my first time in North America. There are a lot of Italians here and I look forward to playing in front of them.”
