El Shaarawy: Milan must focus on Serie A again after Barcelona loss

Mar 15, 2013 11:40:00 AM

The Italy international has set his sights on automatic qualification for next year's Champions League and has urged his team-mates to move on from the loss versus Barca

Stephan El Shaarawy has urged AC Milan to turn their focus to Serie A again after their Champions League elimination at the hands of Barcelona earlier this week.

The Rossoneri currently sit third in the table, trailing second-placed Napoli by only two points, and El Shaarawy has not given up hopes of automatic Champions League qualification just yet.

"We have to put Barcelona behind us and focus on second place in Serie A. We have 10 games left to make sure we play in next season’s Champions League," El Shaarawy told Milan Channel.

"What we’re doing at the moment seemed unthinkable at the start of the season. Our come-back has been strong and these last 10 matches will have to be like 10 cup finals.

"Now we need the whole team to work hard to get that second place. We did well in the first leg against Barcelona and in the second leg they showed that they’re the best team in the world and now we have to get back to the league.

"There are no big injuries ahead of Sunday except for [Giampaolo] Pazzini and we hope to win against Palermo."

Milan host the Sicilians on Sunday afternoon.

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