Coach Sergio Conceicao Satisfied With His Bets Winning AC Milan

Striker Santiago Gimenez scored the first goal for AC Milan and led the team to a 2-0 win over Empoli. (X/@acmilan)

JAKARTA - AC Milan won an important 2-0 victory over Empoli in the Italian Serie A match. The success of winning three points was inseparable from the bet of coach Sergio Conceicao who refused to withdraw the striker to be replaced with a defender when Fikayo Tomori was on a red card.

In a duel at Carlo Casttemani Stadium, Sunday, February 9, 2025 in the morning WIB, Milan had to play with 10 players after Tomori got a second yellow card followed by a red card in the 55th minute.

At that time the match was still a goalless draw. But Conceicao did not attract a single forward and included defenders to strengthen the defense sector. The reason is, Conceicao has included Santiago Gimenez, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic who have attacking characters.

"At that time, I thought about pulling the striker and bringing in the defender. But I didn't," Conceicao said.

"I chose to move [the midfielder of Yunus] Musah to the right and then put [ Kyle's right back] Walker as a centre-back. Then I pulled Joao Felix a bit behind. This composition seems to be able to make Milan lose. So this is indeed a gamble," he said again.

This situation had indeed made Milan depressed until finally Empoli also lost a player after Luca Marianucci got a red card. In a draw of 10 vs 10, Milan began to rise and managed to break the deadlock through Leao's goal.

Leao's header, which welcomed Pulisic's cross, managed to break into Empoli's goal. Furthermore, Gimenez solidified the Rossoneri's lead to 2-0.

"By continuing to respect Empoli who played well and aggressively, we performed better and deserved three points," said Conceicao, who did not hesitate to praise Gimenez. Even though he just joined, this Mexican national team player had no trouble adapting. Empoli's goal was the first to be scored for Milan.

"Santi is a player who has quality. I've been monitoring her while I was at Porto. She shows the quality when she dares to get out of her comfort zone and play better, which is to prioritize collective play. This allows players to level up," he said again.

"When players know what to do, this makes the game simpler and more enjoyable. That's football that I want to watch," he said.

Victory over Empoli brought Milan up to seventh with 38 points. In the next match, Milan faced Feyenoord in the last 16 of the Champions League playoffs. Feyenoord is none other than the former Gimenez club.