Massimiliano Allegri insists Milan “played well” against Juventus” data-scaytid=”3″>Juventus and defended Philippe Mexes. “It wasn’t a punch.”
Massimiliano Allegri insists Milan “played well” against Juventus and defended Philippe Mexes. “It wasn’t a punch.”
The Rossoneri had taken the lead after 19 seconds, but eventually lost 3-2 and are 13 points adrift of leaders Roma.
“At this moment talking about objectives is almost impossible. We need to get our players back, take it one game at a time and try to climb up the table,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“It was a good performance, though we made a few mistakes and allowed Juventus too many chances. Both sides did well tonight, but we made more errors than they did.”
Mexes was sent off for two yellow cards, but should’ve seen red earlier for punching Giorgio Chiellini on the back of the head during a corner.
“It wasn’t a punch, it was a tussle in the box and he hit him on the back. If you want to call it a punch, then call it that, but there are a thousand different fouls like that in the box. He didn’t even catch his face. It was absolutely not a punch.”
The French defender is expected to face a lengthy ban using video evidence, particularly as he is not new to this sort of behaviour.
“On the first goal we lost the ball in our own half and sparked a counter, forced to give the free kick. It’s normal between two quality sides that a mistake will be paid for.
“I’d say overall in terms of performance the team allowed little to Juventus, though we should’ve closed down their long-range shooters earlier.
“It’s a long season, there is time to recover and we will do everything possible to achieve that. We’ll see before the Christmas break where we are.
“The table right now says we have eight points and so that means we deserve eight points. You don’t have to be a scientist to see Milan aren’t doing well when they only have eight points.”
Andrea Pirlo was man of the match, but Allegri was visibly irritated at being asked about the player he let go.
“I’ve been asked this question for four years, it’d be nice to change it once in a while. Andrea is a champion, he hit some wonderful free kicks, but he left Milan three years ago. He left for several different reasons, not because there was no space.
“It gets boring to say the same things over and over again. Nobody doubts Pirlo is talented, but then we’d have to talk about all our former players.”