Gila’s honest Milan assessment: ‘We’re a Europa League team with Scudetto ambitions’
MILAN, ITALY - AUGUST 28: Mario Gila of Milan looks on during the warm up before the Serie A match between AC Milan and Venezia FC at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on August 28, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Mario Gila has backed Ruben Amorim’s methods while acknowledging Milan are still at the start of something rather than the end of it.
Speaking at the Festival dello Sport in Trento, via MilanNews.it, the defender described a coach who demands intensity in both phases of the game.
“Amorim is a coach who transmits grit, he’s aggressive in the press. He’s a modern coach, suited to European football,” Gila said. “We’re at the beginning of the project, time is needed but the results will come.”
Gila: ‘Amorim asks for complete things at Milan’
He expanded on what that means in practice, and on the demands placed on defenders in Amorim’s system.
“He’s a coach who asks you for complete things, in general. You’re not so tactical, maybe you’re a bit more impetuous, but he likes coming out with the ball from the back. In today’s football you have to be strong in both phases. He’s a tough coach, but he has the calm of knowing we’re at the start of a project. He has absolutely the right intentions and ideas. We’re happy to have him in the team.”
Gila was also honest about where Milan currently sit, having finished outside the Champions League places last season.
“For me the current level is where we are, in the Europa League. Last year we didn’t manage to get into the Champions League even though we were there all year. For one factor or another you didn’t get in, and in the end the level is the Europa League.
“Now we have to work. The main objective is getting into the Champions League and competing for the Scudetto. We’re Milan and we have to think with ambition. Last year we had a beautiful season but we didn’t reach the Champions League, so we’re a Europa League team, but with Champions League and Scudetto ambitions.”
That self-assessment is a reasonable one as Milan’s start under Amorim has been steady rather than convincing, with three wins and two draws from their opening Serie A matches, and the coach’s selection choices have already drawn scrutiny. Gila himself has been one of the constants in the back three after arriving from Lazio in the summer.
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