MILAN - Two days on from the win in Turin on Saturday night, Andrea Ranocchia spoke to RTL 102.5. The defender was asked about the match in which "apart from winning against Antonio Conte (the coach who handed him his Serie B debut in 2006 with Arezzo) it was great to win a 6-pointer and beat the reigning champions, so we're pleased. How did we celebrate? I hope we're celebrating come the end of the season, we were pleased because we put in a good performance and the win allowed us to close the gap on them, but the match in Turin is in the past now. We have to try and keep the positive aspects of our play and improve the areas which didn't work quite as well. Now we're thinking about our Europa League clash.
"At the end of the match I phoned my parents and my girlfriend, then friends and family got in touch to congratulate me. What's my target for this season? I want to continue as I am, after a tough spell, I want to play well until the end of the season and enjoy my football, because last season I got very little enjoyment out of it."
Andrea Stramaccioni "is a good coach, he's young, he's still got a long way to go but he immediately put across his ideas to the squad and he continues to do so. This is the most important aspect of the job he's done, having said that it's only the start of the season and we'll see where we are come the end of the campaign."
Ranocchia is in no doubts as to who he'd take between Cassano and El Shaarawy: "I'd keep hold of Cassano. He's different class, someone who brings the squad together and it's always nice to have players like him in the dressing room.
"I want to keep performing as I have so far and I'm taking things one game at a time, because it's dangerous to get ahead of yourself. We'll see where we are and we'll perhaps be celebrating come May. Am I happy to see AC Milan a bit further down the league table? No, we were in a similar position last season and it's not easy. All we're thinking about is ourselves, we're not worried about anyone else."
