Stefano Pioli notes the referee ‘didn’t have his best night,’ but ultimately blamed a lack of concentration for 10-man Milan’s 2-1 home defeat to Atletico Madrid.
The Rossoneri dominated the game up until Franck Kessie received his rather harsh second yellow card just 29 minutes in.
They held out with remarkable resilience until Antoine Griezmann’s volley, then deep into stoppages Luis Suarez converted a penalty for a Pierre Kalulu handling offence from point-blank range.
Champions League | Milan 1-2 Atletico Madrid: Rossoneri couldn’t give more
“I don’t think the referee had his best night… We were penalised. Clearly, down to 10 men we had to play a different type of match, we held out for over half-an-hour and came close to getting a positive result anyway. It’s disappointing, that’s for sure,” the coach told Sport Mediaset.
“It wasn’t just the penalty and red card, any 50-50 decision went their way. With a little more focus, especially on the equaliser, we still could’ve brought home the victory. We were lacking a little something, it’s a pity.”
Much like the 3-2 defeat at Liverpool, the Diavolo proved they absolute deserve the Champions League stage, but were desperately unlucky and could not have done more.
“We played very well with 11 against 11, with tempo, quality and intensity. That must make us realise we are a competitive squad.
“We must also realise the level is very high and we need concentration for the whole match. It has been a tough time lately, we’ll start thinking about Atalanta tomorrow, it took a lot out of us both physically and mentally.”
Liverpool crushed FC Porto 5-1, so Milan are now bottom of the group on zero points.