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Abate hits out: 'With the Chinese management we felt like strangers in our own home'

Abate hits out: 'With the Chinese management we felt like strangers in our own home'

Ignazio Abate has given an interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport about his career at AC Milan, including launching a scathing attack on Yonghong Li and the former Chinese ownership of the club:

"I remained incredulous when Berlusconi left. I thought it would never have happened. I grew up with him and Galliani, who was a second father to me. The worst thing about the Chinese management was for us to feel like strangers in our own home. There was no longer anything I knew at Milan, it was all twisted. 

"What Milan I leave? A Milan that has all the components to aim for more important goals. There is a solid base, a roster with technical and moral qualities. I see a good future, even if to compete you need two or three targets. I agree with what Gattuso said: good to have young people but also people of experience and depth are needed. It is no longer time to rely on risks.

"Gattuso? Of course, I wanted to play more, also because I felt and feel great both mentally and physically, but I always favored the interest of the group. Rino was and remains a friend, for me he has been a idol since I was I am sorry that he is gone, but at the end of the season I saw him really exhausted. He gave a thousand percent, took us one step away from the Champions, he shaped a real group in which everyone followed him. the club's programs did not reflect his ideas. I only know that throughout the season he has improved so much in managing the group and the pressures."