Milan anxious and at risk of Champions League, Massimiliano Allegri does not tremble

After the Reggio Emilia knockout against Sassuolo, Massimiliano Allegri bitterly commented on his Milan team’s performance to the microphones of Dazn, stressing above all the bad approach to the match.

“We started both halves badly and, in particular, the second one we should not have approached it that way. We played a wild card at a delicate moment of the season. We can’t compromise ten months of work right now: we need to file this defeat away immediately and focus on Atalanta,” explained the Rossoneri coach. Allegri then pointed out the many technical mistakes made by the team, calling the one against Sassuolo “a bad day, a bad Sunday,” and called on the group to meet as early as Tuesday to analyze everything and start again.

Asked about the risk of seeing Champions League qualification fade away, after a season lived always with that goal in his sights, Allegri firmly replied, “Champions League is not at risk. It would be wonderful to center it even on the last day. I have always said that I know this team well, I live it every day, and this is clearly a complicated moment. We have to remain lucid, serene and take our responsibilities.”

The Milan coach then reiterated the importance of the path built so far: “There are ten months of important work behind us and now we are in the decisive moment. In the second half of the season we did not do as much as we would have liked, but by now we cannot change. We have to look ahead, stay inside the season finale and work to overcome the difficulties. I understand the fans’ disappointment, we all wanted to close it out sooner, but we must not let anxiety get the best of us.”

Finally, Allegri returned to the episodes that marked the match, starting with Tomori’s expulsion: “The expulsion affected the match, but these are situations that can happen. Now it only matters to react immediately. We need two positive results to win the Champions League and we have to think exclusively about that.” A quip also on the substitution of Nkunku: “The idea was to stretch the game and keep the balance, but the plan was blown right away because we took a goal immediately.”