AC Milan midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek excited for AS Roma clash and upcoming Perth trip

He will be half a world away from Milan when Perth’s Serie A classico kicks off, but Ruben Loftus-Cheek will feel at home among the legions of Rossoneri fans set to fill the Optus Stadium bowls. The AC Milan midfielder expected his club’s trip to Perth to face fellow Italian giants AS Roma will be a positive post-script on a productive debut season in red and black. And while the Italians’ Australian tour will be a brief one, Loftus-Cheek appreciates what the experience will mean to their local fans. For most Australian-based fans of the world game, their main option if they wish to watch their favourite overseas team (outside of forking out an exorbitant amount of money on flights) is to rise before the sun and fire up the television at an ungodly hour. It is why Loftus-Cheek understands the importance of Milan’s clash with Roma in a foreign land. “It’s always a good feeling when you when you go to different countries and you have these fans and superfans that follow you all the way and they watch games, and they’re up at three o’clock in the morning to support you,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t realise that we have the support all across the world and it’s not just the fans that turn up in the San Siro in Milan. “To be able to go to a place where we’ll have fans and a big Italian community can have the opportunity to watch us play is brilliant.” Remarkably, it will be the fifth meeting between the two sides this season: Milan won both of their of their Serie A match-ups, but Roma triumphed in both legs of their Europa League quarter-final. “We’ve got the better of them and they’ve got the better of us, so to play them again will be quite be fun,” Loftus-Cheek said. “For the Australian people to have a chance to watch us play, who never get the chance to to do so, it is a great sporting experience for them and for us.” A Chelsea youth product, a loan spell to Crystal Palace helped Loftus-Cheek enjoy a breakout season and earn the first of 10 England caps, including a berth in their 2018 World Cup team. Upon returning to Stamford Bridge, Loftus-Cheek would go on to clock 155 games for Chelsea, before a move to Milan beckoned last off-season and he has not looked back, finding the net 10 times in 40 games. “I was really excited at the start the season to start something new, a new project in a different country, a different city and I’m really pleased that I made the decision,” Loftus-Cheek said. Top-tier English players venturing overseas used to be seen as something of a novelty, amid a perception the fruits of the EPL were more alluring than anything Europe’s other top leagues could offer. But increasingly, Englishmen have found the continent to be just as fulfilling — prime examples being Real Madrid’s young superstar Jude Bellingham and England skipper Harry Kane’s move to Bayern Munich and even Jadon Sancho’s Borussia Dortmund spells. Loftus-Cheek was himself encouraged by former Chelsea teammate Fikayo Tomori to give Milan a go, with the English centre-back having cemented himself in the heart of their defence. While there is a prevailing perception Serie A is a slower league than the EPL, Loftus-Cheek said he had found the gap to be minimal. “Coming from the Premier League, that’s what I heard as well, but to be honest, there’s not too much difference in terms of intensity — a little bit, but it’s not a huge difference,” he said. “The quality and the level over here is really high and tactically is another level over here, which I had to get used to and adapt to in the first couple of months. Loftus-Cheek acknowledged while once there was an apprehension about going abroad, his own stint in Milan was proof the grass could be greener outside Great Britain and encouraged younger players to give it a go. “I don’t know why it felt like English players don’t go abroad and it was like that when I was a bit younger,” he said. “Now in the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of shift and young players are going abroad more and more, that seems like a crucial stepping stone at the moment for a young player in his development to to go abroad. “You see a lot of players that maybe haven’t done too well in the Prem go abroad and they find their feet and their career goes upwards. “Playing abroad has been fantastic for me and other players and a lot of people will see that, young English players will see that it’s not so looked down on to come abroad.” AC Milan will face AS Roma in a friendly match at Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday 31 May at 7:00pm. Purchase tickets for the game through Ticketmaster Australia.