FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Serie A - AC Milan v Genoa - San Siro, Milan, Italy - May 5, 2024 AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo
(Reuters) - Head coach Stefano Pioli wants AC Milan to end the season on a high note even though the Serie A title race is lost and their place in the Champions League is already secured.
AC Milan are winless in their last six matches in all competitions, a dismal run that included a 2-1 loss to Inter Milan which sealed a 20th Serie A title for their city rivals.
Second-placed Milan have 71 points, five ahead of third-placed Juventus with three matches to go.
"We want to get back to winning ways for us, for the club, for the fans. Second place is an important goal, we are motivated to play this game," Pioli told reporters ahead of Saturday's match against 15th-placed Cagliari.
"The squad is doing well, at the end of the season it is normal for some players to be more or less in form than one another and this will factor into my lineup," he said on Friday.
"It would bother me if the squad weren't to bring all their energy to finish this season in the best way possible. No one has said they want to take it slow before the end of the season, the whole squad is ready and available."
Pioli said losing at AS Roma last month, which ended their Europa League campaign in the quarter finals, was his biggest regret of a trophyless season.
"We could have gone further," he said. "Losing the derbies also weighed heavily on us. We hoped to do better, in general, but I don't think the group ever lacked in their reaction."
A section of Milan fans have been holding protests at matches, demanding clarity from the management regarding the club's future plans after two seasons without silverware.
"My position and position of others will be spoken about after the games. We will see," said Pioli, who has been at the club since 2019 and won the Serie A title in 2022.
"In these years, the club has shown they know how to work and be ambitious. I believe that the highs and lows of a season are always shared between club, coach, and players."
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
