Stefano Pioli has regrets after Milan opened their Champions League campaign with a 1-1 draw at RB Salzburg, but admits Chelsea’s defeat proves ‘there are no easy games.’
This group is proving trickier to predict than previously thought, because Chelsea were beaten 1-0 away to Dinamo Zagreb and the Rossoneri had to fight back for a 1-1 draw with RB Salzburg.
Noah Okafor had opened the scoring for the Austrian hosts, before Alexis Saelemaekers fired in Rafael Leao’s assist from 12 yards.
Leao saw his stoppage-time effort deflected onto the upright and was almost able to snatch a winner.
“It’s a good result with a sufficient performance, but not a high-level performance. If you don’t lift the level of quality and tempo, it’s going to lead to danger. We recovered from a rough start, they started better, we must do better.
“It was a tough, hard-fought match against a strong opponent, we wanted the victory, but we could’ve done better,” Pioli told Sky Sport Italia.
“The lads know when they are doing well. Today, especially at the start, we were always second to the ball and Salzburg were able to go on rapid counter-attacks. They created dangerous situations, so did we, but we weren’t sharp enough in the final ball.
“I think we were too slow in the construction, as Salzburg weren’t pressing as aggressively as we expected and we could’ve created more chances by changing up the attacks. I wanted to see the team more compact, not as stretched out and that would’ve allowed us to play more in their half.”
Milan had 65.1 per cent possession in Salzburg, but ultimately didn’t create that many clear-cut scoring opportunities.
“We suffered on the counter because I think we didn’t get the transitions right and they always pressed our full-backs with a midfielder. I thought it was less that they pressed us in midfield and more that we didn’t move it fast enough, didn’t pick the right passes.”
Chelsea were stunned by the 1-0 defeat away to Dinamo Zagreb, decided by Mislav Orsic, so the Croatians are surprisingly top of this Champions League group.
“The result in Zagreb was honestly a surprise, but it must teach us all that in football there are no easy games. We knew Salzburg were a tough side, they were unbeaten at home last season in the Champions League, even against Bayern Munich,” added Pioli.
“Our next game is in Zagreb and we know that will already be a tough test.”
Sergino Dest made his debut for Milan this evening, but Divock Origi still looks very rusty after arriving from Liverpool with an injury.
“Dest is still getting to know the team, but he has a good attacking push. Origi needs playing time to get up to speed, but he had a really good pass for Brahim Diaz. Tommaso Pobega showed his usual characteristics, physicality, determination and had a few shots on goal too.”
Think his analysis was mostly correct. Ball movement was too slow in the 1st half. RB were ok but the 3 points were definitely there for the taking as Milan will come up against better opponents.