Alessandro Florenzi believes that AC Milan gave a good account of themselves against Atalanta and were just let down by lacking a bit of composure in key moments.
The game got off to a perfect start for Milan when Rafael Leao fired them into the lead inside the opening few minutes with an excellent whipped shot that nestled inside the far corner.
Atalanta pegged the Rossoneri back from the penalty spot as Olivier Giroud was penalised after a VAR check for a high boot inside the box on Holm, and Teun Koopmeiners converted from 12 yards to level things.
A goalless second half followed in which Milan really tried to get the winner but didn’t manage to, meaning that they had to settle for a point against La Dea which nonetheless keeps the gap at six points.
Florenzi spoke to Sky after the game to analyse what was an entertaining game in which Milan were perhaps just lacking a bit of end product, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
You played well, the stats are in Milan’s favour. What was missing to win?
“We missed the final spark, but we really played a great game. We’re going out with no regrets tonight. It’s obvious that we wanted the three points, but I stopped for a bit with the boys and I told them that we must be satisfied with tonight’s match, because if we play like this every match then our opponents will rarely get the better of us.”
It is not a provocation but a concrete question: what is the real Milan? Is it the team we saw tonight, or the one that lost in Rennes? What is the real Milan also in view of the second part of the season?
“Well, it’s obvious that the real Milan is the one this evening, as it’s obvious that there are also the opponents. Today I saw a the Rennes result, they got a great result in Paris, conceding a last minute penalty.
“This means that whoever we faced were definitely not bad, but when they came here we beat them 3 0. You also need to have some balance.”
You always try to fire Leao up, what condition is he in now?
“Well, he’s tired, because he gave a lot to the team, just as we’re all a bit tired. Now we have five days before the next match which we know won’t be easy, because we have to go to the Olimpico against Lazio, but now we’ve given a good show of ourselves this evening and we must continue on this path.
How can you improve when others come into your half of the pitch and those forward-thinking players, like Bennacer, Loftus-Cheek, Leao himself, have to do a little more sacrificial work. Are you working on this too? Because today in this sense you were very good going forward…
“At the beginning they came with Ederson on me then they moved Ruggeri, and we kept Bennacer high to create space for Olivier [Giroud] given that they play man to man.
“In my opinion, we need to improve one-on-one in the defensive phase. That sacrifice you talk about and which was there tonight too. Also because getting Atalanta to play a match like that isn’t easy.”
