AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli says he never felt undermined by chief exec Ivan Gazidis.

Gazidis infamously sought to hire Ralf Rangnick to replace Pioli last year in a failed attempt. The move was called out by former director Zvonimir Boban, who was sacked by Gazidis for publicly criticising him.

Pioli recalled: "I had all the support from the technical area. But even from Gazidis, he always behaved correctly: he told Milanello that we were all under scrutiny.

"During the lockdown we gave the players ten days off and then we went back to training on Zoom. Something had changed in Milanello, I don't know what.

"We left and then we did well."