After AC Milan slumped to a disappointing 4-1 defeat at the hands of Roma at San Siro on Sunday evening, Rossoneri boss Vincenzo Montella praised his former club and admitted that Luciano Spalletti deserved to win the game.

 

Edin Dzeko handed the Giallorossi an early lead in the eighth minute and doubled their advantage in the 28th minute as he nodded in a header past Gianluigi Donnarumma from a Leandro Paredes corner. 

 

Milan didn’t show any signs of giving in despite being 2-0 down and continued to show the desire that they have demonstrated over the course of the season. Mario Pasalic pulled one back in the 76th minute to give them hope, but former Milan man Stephan El- Shaarawy came back to haunt his side, as he curled a shot past Donnarumma minutes later to double the advantage once again. 

 

Three minutes from time, Mohamed Salah was tripped in the box by Palletta (who was subsequently sent off) and the resulting spot-kick from veteran Daniele de Rossi made sure that Roma had a scoreline to be proud of.

 

Vincenzo Montella had clarified following Milan’s draw against Crotone last week that they are achieving their objectives for the season and the defeat to Spalletti’s men suggested that they aren’t gunning for the top four now and will be more than satisfied by a Europa League place.

 

And the Italian was of the opinion, after the hammering, that Roma were better than the rossoneri in a lot of aspects of the game stating that "Their first goal came unexpectedly after a great Roma play. Congratulations to Spalletti and his boys."

 

"The game then was easier for them, but they played better and deserved to win. We never gave up, we started pushing hard on the accelerator after our goal for 1-2, unfortunately, we conceded a goal from a set piece. Roma were better in all aspects"

 

Montella continued to be vocal about Milan’s inability to defend set-pieces, stating that: "We don't have very tall players, we did well until today to defend on set pieces but we didn't have many players to stop Roma who have players such as Dzeko, Manolas, De Rossi, Juan Jesus". 

 

Despite having let in four goals, Donnarumma had a very good game in goal and came up with a terrific save to deny Diego Perotti. And Montella was full of praise for the youngster. "Donnarumma played another great game. It's not a surprise, but it's a pity that despite his brilliant performance we don't take home a positive result. He still has a lot of room for improvement". 

 

With three games still to played and a game at Atalanta waiting in the wings, Milan may have a slim chance of making it to the direct Europa League qualification spot and a win against the Bergamo based side will re-ignite hopes of that. Montella explained that "Now we have to concentrate on the next meeting, on our objective, on our enthusiasm and our desire to bounce back and get ready for a battle against Atalanta. Next week will be very important, we need to get at least seven points from our final three games and that might not be enough. We need to play against Atalanta with great hunger and desire, without losing our temper and risk playing with 10 men. We need to keep our nerve and play with heart".


Kaustubh Pandey