It was a shock loss for Milan who had a chance to move ahead of leaders Inter Milan in the Serie A points table but goals from Kevin Agudelo and Emmanuel Gyasi earned three points for Spezia.
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AC Milan boss Stefano Piloli felt that “it was a bad night” and wants his team to “react now” after the 2-1 Serie A loss to Spezia at San siro on Monday. It was a shock loss for Milan who had a chance to move ahead of leaders Inter Milan in the points table. Rafael Leao had put Milan ahead on the stroke of half-time after Theo Hernandez had missed from the penalty spot. However, after the break, the visitors came out all guns blazing and equalized through Kevin Agudelo before Emmanuel Gyasi scored the winner in stoppage time.
Full time at San Siro.#MilanSpezia #SempreMilan @Acqua_Lete pic.twitter.com/Il0cW7sJvT
— AC Milan (@acmilan) January 17, 2022
Meanwhile there was a moment of controversy in the 92nd minute as Junior Messias put the ball inside the net but the referee had already blown his whistle following a foul on Rebic during build-up, and the goal didn’t stand. The Rossoneri coach Pioli admitted that both his players and the referee are responsible for today’s result.
“I tried to calm my players down, but I didn’t manage as Spezia’s goal proves,” he told Dazn.
“We knew it was an injustice, we have ourselves to blame, but we share responsibility with the referee. I am sorry to say that. He even apologised, maybe that wasn’t even a fault. It’s a shame.
“However, we should have scored more goals in the first half, it’s a bad night and we must react now.”
Milan were gifted a penalty in the 43rd minute following a foul on Leao by goalkeeper Ivan Provedel. The referee awarded a penalty after checking at the pitchside monitor. But Hernandez dragged his effort wide.
“We could have won the game, somehow we lost and it’s heavy,” the coach continued. “We knew we had a good chance, Leao’s goal should have given us self confidence, we failed to seal a win that we strongly wanted, but the season is still long.”
Milan has been struggling because of injuries and Africa Cup of Nations and a number of their midfielders are unavailable. Franck Kessie and Ismael Bennacer are on AFCON duty, while Sandro Tonali was suspended, so Rade Krunic and Tiemoue Bakayoo started in the middle of the park.
“Clearly, the characteristics are different,” explained Pioli.
“Bakayoko sat deeper with Krunic between the lines. It was something new, so it’s normal that the mechanism was not perfect. After such a loss, I believe that it’s essential to play big games against big opponents.
“We didn’t deserve to lose today, our mistake was to concede the equaliser, that’s where we must improve. This game will give us motivation for the next matches,” Pioli concluded.
