AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli is wary facing Rennes in their Europa League playoff.

Pioli also concedes they're not among the favourites for the title, after dropping out of the Champions League.

He said at his pre-match presser: "Teams at this level are always difficult. We had a lot of time to study Rennes: they are talented and must be faced with great attention and great care.

"It's a very important competition, then it's clear that it's a step below, the Europa League; but there's Liverpool, Bayer... Milan have never won the Europa League, but we can't look too far ahead; we want to be ambitious. Everything will be decided in a week.

"The disappointment of having exited the Champions League remains, but then we couldn't help but have an objective, we couldn't waste energy thinking about what could have happened and what didn't happen. We know that in Europe you have to be at the top on that single evening there, it's not like the championship."