Massimiliano Allegri is pleased with Mario Balotelli’s debut brace, but admits Udinese” data-scaytid=”31″>Udinese were hard done by. “It wasn’t a penalty.”
Massimiliano Allegri is pleased with Mario Balotelli’s debut brace, but admits Udinese were hard done by. “It wasn’t a penalty.”
The Coach spoke to the media after their 2-1 victory, secured with the last kick of the game with a spot-kick after Thomas Heurtaux appeared to get the ball in a tackle on Stephan El Shaarawy.
“We were lucky when it came to the referee’s decision. I am pretty honest when it comes to evaluating incidents and I will say that the Udinese player gets the ball. It’s certainly not a penalty that you can give.
“It is a shame, as Udinese played well and so had we. The team played an excellent first half and Udinese were non-existent during that period, while in the second we were lazy and paid the price.
“We are young and must improve, because we can’t keep risking dropped points after dominating like this. In the second half we lowered the tempo and had too many individual moves. After the equaliser we started playing again, but we shouldn’t get ourselves into these situations.”
Balotelli was originally meant to be on the bench, but went into the starting XI when Giampaolo Pazzini picked up a thigh problem in the warm-up.
“He played very well and has some exceptional qualities, but then we all knew that. I was also fortunate, as he wasn’t meant to start. He has to improve, seeing as he is only 22.”
Milan had a disastrous start to the season, but are now level in fourth place with Inter.
“The tournament is still long and I know it is difficult to finish third, especially when we were 10 points behind.”
Allegri was asked about reports linking him with the Roma bench for next season after Zdenek Zeman was sacked.
“I am happy to stay here. After all the criticism that was aimed at me, we are ready to start a new era.”