Claudio Ranieri admits the penalty decisions were ‘fair’ and Sampdoria should’ve pushed Milan harder in the first half too after losing 2-1.
The Blucerchiati made the Serie A leaders sweat for the points, testing Gianluigi Donnarumma, going behind to a handball penalty and almost drawing 2-2 with the last kick of the game.
Ranieri was asked about the two incidents, as Jakub Jankto jumped with his arm raised to block the Theo Hernandez header.
Claudio Ranieri admits the penalty decisions were ‘fair’ and Sampdoria should’ve pushed Milan harder in the first half too after losing 2-1.
The Blucerchiati made the Serie A leaders sweat for the points, testing Gianluigi Donnarumma, going behind to a handball penalty and almost drawing 2-2 with the last kick of the game.
Ranieri was asked about the two incidents, as Jakub Jankto jumped with his arm raised to block the Theo Hernandez header.
In a different move at the other end, Matteo Gabbia chested down the ball with it also striking the top part of his armpit.
“Last season there were too many penalties and I didn’t like that. I’ll be honest, if they’d given that Gabbia penalty against me, I would’ve been a little sad,” confessed Ranieri.
“I thought on the Milan penalty that Jankto had been pushed, but seeing it again, he wasn’t, so it was a fair penalty.”
Yet again, Sampdoria only really got going after the break and several substitutions.
“I wanted to take away Milan’s forward runs, but also counter them, and we didn’t do enough of that in the first half. We’ve been doing that a lot lately, I will talk to the lads again and we’ll try to start a bit stronger next time. We can’t just keep playing one half.
“After the break, the team reacted well, fought for every ball and it was much more of an open game to any result until the end.
“Milan have these synchronised movements, they play good football, and were in remarkable shape considering they played in the Europa League on Thursday.
“Perhaps these lads are also fuelled by the joy of youth and run on through every obstacle, then the wisdom of Zlatan Ibrahimovic keeps them balanced at other times. They’re a very good team.”
Samp are now without a win in six competitive games, managing only two draws against Genoa and Torino in that period.
“We have to build on the second half. We made signings to make sure we didn’t suffer as badly as last season. We did get 10 points so far, but now we have to get back on track.
“The doctors will evaluate Bereszynski tomorrow, it’s a femoral bicep issue. Gabbiadini felt some pain that had already caused him problems in the first weeks of the season, hopefully it’s just a twinge.
“Tommaso Augello had cramp, which is unusual, because he’s such a marathon runner, but it should be nothing serious.”