Pioli hoping for Milan revival on return to Champions League knockouts

Stefano Pioli is hoping that AC Milan have pulled out of their damaging downward spiral as his team prepare for their first Champions League knockout tie in nearly a decade.

Milan host Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night having snapped a seven-match winless streak in all competitions which left their Serie A title defence in tatters and threatened to completely derail their season.

The San Siro breathed a heavy sigh of relief on Friday night when Olivier Giroud headed Milan to a 1-0 win over Torino and coach Pioli wants that tight victory to be the turning point after two Milan derby defeats and heavy league losses to Lazio and Sassuolo in just over a fortnight.

Pioli said that Friday's win should be looked at as a "rebirth" as it ended a run which had left fifth-placed Milan not only miles behind runaway league leaders Napoli but also in a real fight for a place in next season's Champions League.

"We need to keep going, playing the Champions League next season would be a good finish at this point, but we need to be more consistent," he told DAZN.

The 57-year-old knows a lot about unexpected renaissances as, after his arrival in October 2019, he went from almost being replaced by Ralf Rangnick to stewarding Milan's rise from the doldrums to the top of the Italian game.

Pioli replaced Marco Giampaolo, the latest in a long line of managers the Rossoneri churned through in the largely miserable eight years since they had last won the league in 2011.

He took over a team which had won three and lost four of their opening seven matches, and only managed three more wins between his appointment and that season's winter break.

Milan's 5-0 humiliation at Atalanta -- who nearly made the last four of that season's Champions League -- in