Gennaro Gattuso was upset by Milan’s 3-2 loss to Inter, but “the defeat that hurts the most was what happened” in the Franck Kessie and Lucas Biglia row.
Gennaro Gattuso was upset by Milan’s 3-2 loss to Inter, but “the defeat that hurts the most was what happened” in the Franck Kessie and Lucas Biglia row.
“The first half we were constantly getting pressed and unable to play out. In the second, we changed a few things. We struggled with their through runs and they’d systematically run past us with four or five players,” the Coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“I get criticised at times for being too defensive, but you have to remember the characteristics of the players at my disposal.
“I think that after going 2-0 down, any other side would’ve collapsed. Inter combine quality with physical strength, so I am happy with the performance. If we didn’t do what we wanted in the first half, the credit goes to Inter.
“We created chances, we went very close to an equaliser at the end. There were too many spaces and we made mistakes.
“The defeat that hurts me the most was Kessie and seeing what happened on the bench. That is something I cannot accept with the way I see football, the way I see the team and the group ethic.”
The incident happened when Kessie was substituted and seemed irritable, at which point Biglia said something that absolutely infuriated the Ivorian.
Kessie had to be held back by several teammates, above all Ricardo Rodrigues and Ignazio Abate, to stop him physically attacking Biglia.
“There has to be respect for everyone in the dressing room and it was just unacceptable. I am the Coach, I have to take care of discipline in the dressing room and the players know how much I care about that.
“You can criticise my tactics, but I built my career on respect, group ethics, representing the jersey, honouring the teammates who haven’t played for months. This means the world to me and that is why it is a double defeat.
“I will have my say over the next few days.”
The two players did go to the mixed zone to publicly apologise to the media for the embarrassing scenes.