Loftus-Cheek: ‘Enjoying new Milan role’ | OneFootball

Ruben Loftus-Cheek is in the form of his life at Milan with five goals in as many games and admits he ‘enjoys’ the new attacking role. ‘We have the quality to win the Europa League.’

The former Chelsea midfielder had struggled initially with the fitness problems that stalled his entire career, but is finally finding a level of consistency with the Rossoneri.

That is not all, as he is also playing in a more advanced role to usual, as Stefano Pioli moved him to a trequartista position behind the centre-forward in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

“I’ve been working on this getting to the right position to score and it’s going well now,” Loftus-Cheek told UEFA.com, Sky Sport Italia and Milan TV.

“I have played in various different midfield roles, but this is a position I enjoy as I am closer to the goal. I try to enjoy myself on the field and I feel free when I play now.

“The secret is just that I am in good shape physically. I had problems a few months ago with that injury, but now I feel better and hope to continue like this.”

He scored twice in this evening’s 3-0 Europa League play-off victory against Rennes at San Siro, with the second leg scheduled for next Thursday.

“My personal best is 10 goals for the season, so we’ll see…”

The winners will get through to the Europa League Round of 16 against the teams who won their groups, so can Milan be considered among the contenders to go all the way?

“We have the quality to win this trophy, but we have to take it one game at a time. Tonight was incredible at home. It was an important win, but we are only half-way through.”