AC Milan duo Sandro Tonali and Malick Thiaw have revealed that the Serie A side were focused on restricting the supply to Harry Kane on Tuesday.
Milan emerged with a deserved 1-0 win at the San Siro in the first leg of the Champions League round of sixteen tie against Tottenham.
The only goal of the game came in the seventh minute with Brahim Diaz turning the ball home from close range after Theo Hernandez’s shot was parried by Fraser Forster into the Spaniard’s path.
The home side squandered some opportunities to extend their lead and thus go into the second leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a bigger cushion.
Although Kane worked tirelessly through the 90 minutes, the striker had a quiet game, with the Lilywhites struggling to create too many clear-cut chances of note.
Thiaw, who marshalled Kane impressively alongside his more experienced centre-back partner Simon Kjaer, told TuttoMercatoWeb after the game: “Kane is a great player, but in the game, you only think about playing. I tried to exploit certain situations to my advantage.”
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Meanwhile, Tonali revealed that the Rossoneri’s game plan was to prevent the 29-year-old from getting onto the ball.
The midfielder said: “We conceded the ball more to Kane in the first half, he was the first problem in Tottenham’s action. The important thing was to shield him and then go out on all the others.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Without Bentancur in the middle of the park to help us progress the ball, we are extremely easy to defend against.
Opposition teams will continue to focus on cutting the supply to Kane, which is why Conte might decide to abandon the patient build-up and go more direct over the coming weeks.
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