Gennaro Gattuso has confirmed that Gonzalo Higuaín wants to leave Milan, but that he is determined to convince the Chelsea target to stay.
“When a player makes certain choices, it becomes difficult to convince him otherwise,” Gattuso told Milan TV after their Coppa Italia win over Sampdoria.
“At the moment, he is a Milan player and we’re holding on tight,” the head coach added. “I don’t know what will happen. We are honest with each other and I want him to maintain the same attitude, which has never been lacking.”
Milan progressed to the quarter-finals after two extra-time goals by Patrick Cutrone in Genoa. Joining them are Juventus, who won at Bologna through goals from Federico Bernardeschi and Moise Kean. Lazio beat the Serie C side Novara 4-1 with goals from Luis Alberto, Ciro Immobile (two) and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic .
PSG’s manager, Thomas Tuchel, said his side 3-0 victory over 10-man Amiens was “deserved” as they extended their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 13 points. Edinson Cavani gave PSG the lead from a spot-kick after a goalless first half with Amiens managing just one shot on target in the 90 minutes.
Khaled Adénon was sent off for a second bookable offence after he brought down the marauding Kylian Mbappé before the French forward added his side’s second minutes later. The Brazilian defender Marquinhos added a third to wrap up the game after being expertly set up by Julian Draxler.
Tuchel spoke of the importance of the win after his PSG side were knocked out of the League Cup on Wednesday by the Ligue 1 strugglers Guingamp. Speaking after the game, Tuchel told the club website: “It’s a deserved win after a good performance from us. We can’t control the result but we can control our level of performance and that’s what we did today.”
In Spain, Rubén Alcaraz’s perfect free-kick earned Real Valladolid a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Valencia as the hosts’ disappointing season continued. Marcelino’s Valencia dominated the game but struggled to find a breakthrough, with Valladolid goalkeeper Jordi Masip saving Rodrigo’s second-half penalty.
Santi Mina missed from close range before Valencia’s captain, Dani Parejo, eventually put his side ahead in the 71st minute. However Alcaraz’s brilliantly hit equaliser in the 82nd minute frustrated Valencia’s fans in the Mestalla who whistled their team, who continue to languish mid-table, off at the end.
“I think the team had a great game but we were not very accurate in front of goal,” said Rodrigo. “I apologise to my teammates for missing the penalty. We have to keep working. The team did great work overall. We had three great chances, we are all a bit responsible.”
In the other early game Leganés beat the bottom side, Huesca, 1-0 at home, and later Girona and Alavés drew 1-1. In the late game, a dramatic late winner on the break from Ángel Rodríguez earned Getafe a 2-1 win at Villarreal, who dropped to 19th in the table. The hosts qualified for Europe last season but are in real danger of relegation after a six-game winless league run.