Maignan remembers racism incident and poor form: “I had lost the battle against myself”

AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan has reiterated the incident in which he was the victim of racist insults during an away match against Cagliari.

Shortly after Milan took a 1-0 lead in that match, Maignan alerted his teammates and officials that he had been subjected to racist abuse after being cautioned. The abuse continued and the Rossoneri players had no choice but to leave the pitch.

The French goalkeeper was understandably very angry and upset about what had happened, but the game resumed a few minutes later. The Rossoneri fell behind but scored a dramatic winner through Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor just before the end to silence the racists.

Maignan appeared alongside Aurelien Tchouameni and former Inter striker Samuel Eto'o, as well as other guests, on a YouTube show called 'The Bridge', and spoke on a range of topics with his comments relayed by MilanReports.

“It all depends on you. Even though we are used to saying that football is a team sport, in the end it depends on you, because if you mess up a game or make a mistake, you are not performing as well as you should.”

“Who can you blame? You don't start looking for excuses like, 'My teammate wasn't as good, he didn't do this, he didn't do that.' When you do everything possible to be successful and still fail, you're going to keep challenging yourself to go above and beyond and find that little extra that will take you further.

“And I think that attitude applies to everything you do in life. It's you against yourself. You wake up every morning, you have to achieve your goals, your milestones, and keep going, because if you wait for someone to push you, to do it for you, no one will. There are times when you lose to yourself, but those are life lessons that you learn from.”

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On his poor form last season…

“Last season, for those who have followed Milan a little, I realised that I had lost the battle against myself. Because my battle is to focus on what I am good at, on myself, and not to get carried away by everything that is happening around me.

“I had to fight tough battles. The battle I had to fight, I didn't fight, so I knew I was going to lose it. So what I'm going to do now, like I said, is learn from everything to come back strong next season.”

On the goalkeeper position…

“If you're not crazy and don't have that mentality, you can't be a goalkeeper. All top goalkeepers today have to be crazy and have a strong attitude, otherwise it doesn't work.”

“Today it is difficult to find a goalkeeper at a high level who does not have all of this, because he is automatically crushed by his teammates, by the pressure, by the mistakes, although everyone makes mistakes, but the most important thing is what you do afterwards.”

“My benchmark when it comes to goalkeepers is Neuer. I like him a lot; he really revolutionised the role. A guy like Neuer makes mistakes, but that doesn't change all the changes he brought with him, because we all make mistakes, but how do you recover from them?

“And I think his mistakes will be useful to young goalkeepers like me, even though he is nearing the end. We say, 'Even the best make mistakes.' That will motivate us even more to keep going despite our mistakes.”

On the subject of racism …

“I left the field because it happened once. We spoke to the referee and the association, something should change, but nothing changed, so I left the field.

“I left, took responsibility, my team was united, they left the field with me hoping that things would change, but so far not much has changed. And what's worse: they don't even tell you to your face.”

“I would like to live the same life as before, even if I am the person I am today. But that doesn't work. I wasn't in the spotlight, I didn't have as much money, I walked down the street and didn't have to look left and right. I would like to walk around without anyone noticing me.”

And finally, his best memory …

“No, it's not the Derby. It's something personal – when I bought a house for my mother. I cried a lot that day, but those tears were different. They were tears of joy, and that's still my best memory to this day.”