Allegri brushes off Scudetto talk on eve of Pisa trip
Massimiliano Allegri refused to be drawn into speaking about AC Milan's Serie A title hopes ahead of its trip to Pisa on Saturday.
After its 3-0 win over Bologna last weekend, Milan is second in the table, eight points adrift of city rival Inter.
A win for Milan, on 50 points, twould equal its second-best points tally at this stage of a league season.
The Rossoneri managed 53 points in 1995-1996, with their best haul coming in 2003-2004 when they had 61. In both of those campaigns, they went on to win the Scudetto.
The Milan boss, as he has done since the start of the season, insisted that the club's main focus remains on sealing a return to the Champions League.
"Today, we're in a good position in the table, but it's not enough," Allergi said. "You don't even get to the Conference League with 50 points. The closer we get to the Champions League mark, the better we'll be doing in the standings.
"That's why these games before the derby are so important. We've had a good season so far.
"We started by trying to get back into the Champions League, and at the moment we're in the top four. That's the goal.
"We could have done better in the Coppa Italia, which is our big regret.
"We have to stay focused on our goal, aware that Inter, as we've known from the beginning, are a very strong team.
"Napoli are also strong, Juve are coming back up. It won't be easy to finish in the top four."
But Allegri was not discounting the threat of Pisa, without a win since a 1-0 victory over Cremonese on 7 November.
"At the moment, Pisa are fighting to stay in Serie A. They're a physical team and create a lot at home," Allegri said. "They've lost, but have kept games alive. We will have to be very careful and have to be ready for everything.
"[Friday's] match is one of four games that will lead us into the derby. It will be very important all round.
"We only got two points against Pisa, Cremonese and Parma during the first half of the season."
Allegri was also on hand to provide an injury update on his team, with Christian Pulisic expected to be back among the substitutes for Milan.
Rafael Leao and Santiago Gimenez could also feature, but the clash comes too soon for Alexis Saelemaekers.
"Pulisic will be available. He trained with the team for the first time yesterday, but he only has 15-20 minutes in his legs," Allegri said.
"Leao is doing much better, Gimenez even better still. He will be available in around a month.
"Saelemaekers is still out, but he's also doing much better. We'll see if he's available for Como."
