AC Milan coach Vincenzo Montella was delighted with their victory at Europa League opponents Craiova.

The Rossoneri won 1-0 away to Romanian side Craiova in the first-leg of their Europa League tie thanks to Ricardo Rodriguez's free-kick.

The second leg is at San Siro on Thursday August 3.

Montella said, “I could not have expected more. Craiova made it difficult for us, they're in better physical condition and have some rapid players.

“It was all fairly predictable, but I liked the attitude of the team when dealing with difficulties. It's a good result, but not enough for us to be relaxed and hopefully we'll be at a more advanced stage of preparation at San Siro, both physically and technically."

This is the new Milan, but Leonardo Bonucci, Lucas Biglia, Hakan Calhanoglu and others were unavailable.

“We had Kessie, Musacchio and Borini on the field today, but also Niang and Cutrone are half-new. My aim is to get as many players as possible ready to contribute.

“Bonucci, may I remind you, won a Scudetto with a three-man defence and reached a Champions League Final with four at the back.

“At one point we played seemingly with three at the back, but we knew that the fitness levels wouldn't hold out for 90 minutes, so couldn't push it too hard.

“We were a little obvious in our passing, but also didn't have the players up front who could create spaces, so that made it a little more difficult. All this was predictable in the circumstances and we realised we had to hurt Craiova off the shoulders of the defenders, not the midfielders."