Fonseca hails Milan 'courage' during Madrid victory

Paulo Fonseca saluted AC Milan's "courage" during their 3-1 victory over reigning Champions League winners Real Madrid.

Malick Thiaw, Alvaro Morata and Tijjani Reijnders were on target as the Rossoneri condemned Madrid to successive home defeats for the first time under their former boss Carlo Ancelotti.

Milan became the first side in the history of the competition to score three times against Los Blancos at Santiago Bernabeu on two occasions, also achieving the feat in October 2009.

And Fonseca was delighted at the way the players executed his game plan, which he acknowledged was slightly different to normal.

"We won because the players had the courage to come here and not be afraid of anything, playing the game we wanted," he told reporters during his post-match press conference.

"We prepared for a match in which we wanted to keep the ball. In the first half, we did important things and, in the second half, we suffered more. But we deserved to win, no doubt about it.

"Today, we showed that an Italian team came to the Bernabeu to play and not to defend alone. We can still grow a lot. I have to be honest. This type of game is totally different to what we have in Serie A. 

"In Italy, perhaps, we don't have the chance to play with this aggressiveness. I don't think it's possible to do what we did today. Here, there are no teams that press man-to-man all over the pitch."