Paulo Fonseca wants Milan to be ‘perfect’ in defence against Leverkusen

Paulo Fonseca has told his AC Milan players they will need to be defensively perfect when they travel to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

After allowing Liverpool to come from behind and claim a 3-1 win at the San Siro in their opening match in the new-look tournament two weeks ago, the pressure is on Milan to get a result at the home of the German champions.

Since that setback, Milan have responded well in Serie A, beating rivals Inter 2-1 in the Milan derby before a 3-0 win over Lecce, but now there is a need to get points on the board in the Champions League.

“I can’t say that our way of playing will always be the same, but the intentions are almost always the same,” Fonseca said.

“I don’t think I’ll change, we need to have continuity. We know it’s a different game, I think it will be similar to the one against Liverpool, but we need to have continuity about what we have done so far.

“Defensively, I think the team has come on. It’s a good test to see where our defensive capabilities are at this moment. I’ve told the players that we need to be perfect defensively to beat a team like Leverkusen.”

The game will bring back some special memories for Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso, who was in the Liverpool side that mounted an incredible comeback to win the Champions League against Milan in Istanbul in 2005.

“It was one of the most important games in my career and an incredible night,” Alonso said. “It’s a great memory, but the focus for us is on the here and now.

“It’s a match against a big team in the history of football. AC Milan are a top side with a lot of individual quality. They have dangerous players who work well together on the pitch. Therefore, we will need to produce our best performance levels and play with high concentration as usual.”