Tonali is proud of Milan's European growth ahead of RB Salzburg tie

Sitting third in the Serie A table 6 points behind early leaders, Napoli,

will face RB Salzburg on Wednesday for their final Champions League group match as a positive result against the Austrian outfit is decisive to their Champions League journey.

told his pre-match conference:

“From the Europa League preliminaries two years ago to today, it’s a path we deserve. We started from the bottom and we’ve come this far. We know it’s an important moment of the season, which gives us the chance to improve and reach the first goal of the season.

“One should not be afraid. The pressure is right to be there. We know that Salzburg are a very strong team with specific characteristics. 

“We have worked a lot on them and on ourselves, which is the most important thing now. Fear has to be put aside to face the game as we know how to do.”

Tonali added on what reaching the knockout stage means to

s side:

“We congratulated Pioli on the renewal, he deserves it. We’ve worked on the match that must be, we mustn’t go onto the pitch with the thought of drawing. 

“That’s the one mistake we mustn’t make. It’s difficult, but as mature players that we are, we have to think that it’s a match to be won.”

Milan failed to achieve a positive result in Turin on Sunday as they fell to a 2-1 loss to

. On what went wrong in their Serie A clash, Tonali added:

“Having a bad night like in Turin can happen. We started well, then we didn’t know how to manage it. 

“We showed last year and this year that we know how to react to defeats, we have to do it now too, put a point aside.”

After hailing

's impact, the Italian midfielder discussed his favorite Champions League memory.

“Leao is fine, his evaluation should not be based on Turin. Today he was very calm, he doesn’t have any kind of problem.”

“Excluding the finals, the 3-0 Milan-Manchester Utd at San Siro. It’s one of the matches I remember best and one that excites me the most.”

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