Eusebio Di Francesco implies the referee favoured Milan to beat Sassuolo 4-3. “You saw the incidents, they were clear as day. Milan are a stronger club.”
There were several contentious incidents in the game, above all Matteo Politano wanted a penalty in the first half for a Gianluigi Donnarumma shove, while the Rossoneri got back into it from 3-1 to 3-2 with a very debatable spot-kick on M’Baye Niang.
Eusebio Di Francesco implies the referee favoured Milan to beat Sassuolo 4-3. “You saw the incidents, they were clear as day. Milan are a stronger club.”
There were several contentious incidents in the game, above all Matteo Politano wanted a penalty in the first half for a Gianluigi Donnarumma shove, while the Rossoneri got back into it from 3-1 to 3-2 with a very debatable spot-kick on M’Baye Niang.
“It was a game stronger that we could handle as a club, as a team, as everything,” said a clearly irritated Coach in his Press conference.
“It’s not pleasant to lose a game like this, because I want to lose if I deserve to lose. We were missing seven key players, Milan have stronger players who are internationals.
“You saw the incidents, they were clear as day. Niang fouls Pol Lirola first, then runs into Luca Antei. Naturally, a penalty like that will change the dynamics of the game.
“They did well to score after that and Donnarumma performed a good save at the end. It was a penalty before then on Politano, as Donnarumma put a hand on him and knocked him over.
“There were simply too many incidents that changed the dynamics of the match. I am taking this philosophically, setting it aside the same way I did the win over Pescara that was stripped from us (due to an irregularly fielded player).
“Milan were stronger, then there are determined jobs that everyone is supposed to do in their profession. I cannot say here what I really think.
“The thing that made the biggest difference was the Niang penalty. Milan were struggling and never would’ve got a goal back otherwise. From there, we conceded three goals in seven minutes.
“Football is made up of incidents, but it should not be made up of incidents that condition the game to this degree.”
Ironically, Milan-Sassuolo was the first game – along with Torino-Fiorentina – to use VAR technology, but it was offline, meaning the referee was not in contact with officials watching video replays.
“I am generally against technology in football, as mistakes can happen, but it’s just a shame when they are unilateral mistakes.”