Milan coach Stefano Pioli says referee Marco Serra apologised to Milan players after he cancelled out a late Junior Messias goal, seconds before Spezia‘s winner.
The Rossoneri suffered an incredible 2-1 defeat at San Siro, but have plenty of regrets.
The referee wrongly cancelled a late Messias goal awarding a free-kick for the Rossoneri before the former Crotone man found the net of the goal with a curler.
Milan players were furious and conceded a late Emmanuel Gyasi goal only a few seconds later.
The Rossoneri coach Pioli admitted that both his players and the referee are responsible for today’s result.
“I tried to calm my players down, but I didn’t manage as Spezia’s goal proves,” he told Dazn.
“We knew it was an injustice, we have ourselves to blame, but we share responsibility with the referee. I am sorry to say that. He even apologised, maybe that wasn’t even a fault. It’s a shame.
Serie A | Milan 1-2 Spezia: Rossoneri upset following late winner
“However, we should have scored more goals in the first half, it’s a bad night and we must react now.”
Theo Hernandez missed a penalty kick in the first half before Rafael Leao scored the opener.
“We could have won the game, somehow we lost and it’s heavy,” the coach continued. “We knew we had a good chance, Leao’s goal should have given us self confidence, we failed to seal a win that we strongly wanted, but the season is still long.”
The Rossoneri had to cope without three of their regulars in midfield. Franck Kessié and Ismael Bennacer are on AFCON duty, while and Sandro Tonali was suspended, so Rade Krunic and Tiemoue Bakayoo started in the middle of the park.
“Clearly, the characteristics are different,” explained Pioli.
“Bakayoko sat deeper with Krunic between the lines. It was something new, so it’s normal that the mechanism was not perfect. After such a loss, I believe that it’s essential to play big games against big opponents.
The Rossoneri will meet Juventus and Inter in the next two Serie A matches.
“We didn’t deserve to lose today, our mistake was to concede the equaliser, that’s where we must improve. This game will give us motivation for the next matches,” Pioli concluded.
“The Rossoneri coach Pioli admitted that both his players and the referee are responsible for today’s result”…………………I am sorry, but Pioli you are also a reason we lost……taking Saelemaeker off at the 55th minute, arguably your 2nd best player who was all over the pitch both offensively and defensively changed the whole momentum of this game, Milan were terrible after this move, shame on you, take responsibility!
Pioli said a few days ago after the Genoa match that our approach was wrong and he was responsible. Today I saw the same approach, more or less. So yes the blame is shared between the ref, players and the coach.
We need to find a way to play these kinds of games seriously. Every season we inexplicably lose points against these smaller sides because our team plays like it’s Sunday league football.
Ref made a disastrous mistake. It cost Milan all three points today. Milan must learn never to put themselves in that position, this club has had far to many unfavourable encounters with the ref not to make a bigger margin in any instance.
I agree with both of you, ugh, heartbreaking…….
we just have to beat juve & inter now. lets go!!
The ref blown the whistle. MJ Should have been carded for playing after the whistle. There are numerous examples of refs not waiting to play the advantage.
@Milanwizz Totally agree. Ref made a terrible mistake but Milan should have been out of sight by then if they were any good. Recent results have been papering over poor form that has been ongoing for months now.