AC Milan boss Vincenzo Montella was vocal about his side’s decent performance at Juventus stadium, following the rossoneri’s close 2-1 loss the Old Lady on Friday evening.

 

After Massimiliano Allegri’s men had made quite a good start to the crucial game, Gianluigi Donnarumma’s heroics kept Milan level at 0-0, before Mehdi Benatia handed Juventus the lead in the 30th minute with a well taken strike after Alessio Romagnoli had played him onside.

 

Milan didn’t give up easily however and began pushing for the equaliser, which came just two minutes before half-time through Carlos Bacca, who scored his fourth goal in three outings in the Serie A.

 

The third minute of stoppage time saw Jose Sosa get his second yellow card and head for an early shower and just when most thought that Milan would go back to San Siro with a point, Juventus won a penalty in the 97th minute of the game. Paulo Dybala made no mistake in putting it away to win the game for the Old Lady helping his side avenge their loss at San Siro.

 

Montella was of the opinion that his side deserved more than they got from a game that could have gone either way. He said: "It's a shame because we are missing a point which in the end could decide the race for Europe: I hope it will affect other teams and not us. The boys deserved more, they played with great personality and at a certain moment, we could have taken the lead. It's a pity for what happened [the penalty to Juve, ed.] and for how it happened. Tonight sleeping won't be easy, but this game tells us that we are a great group: brilliant teamwork. If we keep united and positive, we'll surely make it into Europe".

 

The Italian also apologised on the behalf of his side, which had vented their frustrations in an inappropriate manner after the referee had awarded Allegri’s men the vital penalty. Montella told: "I didn't see anything from the dugout, on TV yes, I saw something. After the match, I politely asked the referee to explain to me what happened: he said it was his choice to give the penalty, maybe it was the wrong decision. It was a crucial match for us and a crucial point. I would prefer more dialogue with the referees, seriously. I want to apologise on behalf of the team for their reaction after the match, but the boys did not cross the line".

 

Despite the loss, Montella expressed his satisfaction with the performance that his ever-improving side came up with against a team of considerable might. He said: "We played a fine game against a really strong opponent, Juve put in all the energy as if it was a Cup final and we must be proud of this: it means they fear us, we proved we can keep up with them. We were dangerous and made them suffer. Let's focus on ourselves, from now on we have to do something important".

 

The loss kept Milan at seventh, just three points behind fourth placed Lazio, who have a game in hand to play against Torino on Monday evening. Milan’s next game sees the rossoneri host Genoa next Saturday.


Kaustubh Pandey