Allegri: ‘Milan must be realistic, Leao was irritated by situations’
Max Allegri hopes the defeat to Lazio means people will stop asking Milan about the Scudetto, and explains why Rafael Leao ‘was annoyed’ at his substitution.
This had been a big opportunity for the Rossoneri to ride the wave of enthusiasm from the Derby della Madonnina success and take advantage of Inter’s draw with Atalanta to close the gap at the top to five points.
Instead, they lost 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico and Inter’s lead is expanded to eight points, while Napoli are now only one point behind the Rossoneri in third place.
Lazio were repeatedly attacking Pervis Estupinan down the right flank, and he stumbled when Gustav Isaksen went clear on the long Adam Marusic ball to beat Mike Maignan in the only goal of the game.
Allegri gives reasons for Milan stumble
“We knew the difficulties of this match, as the fans were returning to the stadium and it was very important for Lazio,” Allegri told DAZN Italia.
“Their first half was very strong, we should’ve been a little more organised and made fewer errors. They ran hard and fell away after the break, we had a lot more intensity and poured forward, but were unable to make it count with a goal. This is football.”
More worryingly, they are closer to Juventus in fifth now than to the leaders, as the advantage for a Champions League spot is only seven points.
“What we absolutely must do now is press the reset button. People talked about the Scudetto after the win over Inter, but we have to be realistic in life,” added the coach.
“We need to remember that the objective is Champions League qualification, otherwise we risk destroying all that we have built over the last six months.”
There was also tension when Allegri substituted Rafael Leao at the 68th minute, as the Portugal international reacted angrily to being hauled off.
He walked so slowly towards the touchline that Maignan ran over to push him off, then resisted Allegri’s attempts to hug him, before kicking away bottles on the Milan bench.
“Leao was a bit annoyed because he had some situations where he could’ve had better service, so he was a bit angry, but these things can happen during a match,” assured Allegri.
“All the lads wanted to win, first and foremost to break away from the chasing pack, because Juventus are only seven points behind us now. It’s a long season still, we need to stay focused and do better on the situations we got wrong in the first half.”
It is perhaps no coincidence that Milan lost here, as they have struggled in the absence of Adrien Rabiot, who sat out a ban this evening.
However, the coach did not agree with suggestions Milan were too passive and sat back in the first half.
“I think we made too many technical errors in the first half and allowed far too many counter-attacks. Even before the goal, we had another couple of situations where we were all ahead of the ball and had acres of space behind us, you should not concede goals like this,” noted Allegri.
“We stepped up a gear after the break and had many favourable situations, but couldn’t make them count. It’s not that we waited for Lazio, I think we allowed more counter-attacks tonight than throughout the rest of the season.
“If you lose the ball in the opposition half, then either you win it back straight away or you get caught on the counter, there’s no other way out of that situation. We lost a lot of duels in the first half, such as one between De Winter and Maldini, so when you go too softly into those challenges, of course you’ll lose the ball.
“After the break, we were a lot stronger into those duels, and therefore kept Lazio pinned back into their half. It’s difficult to explain why they were soft in those duels, because the lads prepared well and knew the importance of the game.
“I think we made too many errors in general, we accepted going man-for-man with them tonight, and often it didn’t work, leaving De Winter alone against Maldini.”