AC Milan defender Davide Calabria tried to provide a positive outlook after the elimination in the Champions League semi-finals by Inter, stating that nobody thought a spot in the final four was possible.
It had been a memorable run in the competition to the final four as the Rossoneri finished second in a group with Chelsea, Red Bull Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb, beating Spurs in the last 16 and Napoli in the quarter-finals.
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The tie against Inter in the semis proved to be a bridge too far however as they were beaten 3-0 on aggregate. Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s first leg goals left a mountain to climb, and Lautaro Martinez’s second half goal last night killed the tie.
Calabria spoke to SportMediaset and Sky after the game to try and dissect what was a difficult night for the team and another stinging derby defeat, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
“We played a good match, but at these levels chances need to be taken and we didn’t succeed. It would have been a different match. There’s little to complain about. The first half of the first leg is a shame,” he said.
What do you say to the fans?
“This is a starting point, no one expected Milan in the semi-final. We put everything we had into it. We’ve had a bad experience, but I’m not interested in thinking negative now: we have a Champions League spot to win in the league. Then we’ll draw the conclusions.”
What went wrong?
”I don’t think something didn’t work out, we created but failed to finish when we had the chances. Scoring a goal would change the game. It’s a shame. I want to see the glass half full, no one expected we could get this far, we played a good game today.
“I congratulate Inter because they were good and better than us at scoring in these two games. They are a complete, strong team and honestly we need to learn and gain experience because we want to win the Champions League to play it again next year.”
Maldini said he was aware of the abilities and limitations. Is that right?
“Absolutely. Then it will be up to the club to do what it deems appropriate to improve the team, I think no one expected that we could finish among the best four in Europe. Obviously it burns because it was a derby, but it must be said that we still lack a little something to be able to aspire to win this competition.”
How do you rate the season?
“As Paolo said, thinking of lifting the Champions League was a dream that if it had happened it would have been something much bigger than what our season was supposed to be. Now the goal is to get to the Champions League.
“There are many other teams even better equipped than us, at the end of the season we’ll draw conclusions with the club for what it was. Our goal is to get to the Champions League, seeing disappointment for not having lifted a trophy seems wrong to me because this team has always given everything they had from day one.
“There are teams that have done better than us in small details. Now we want to finish the season in the best possible way because it’s not over yet.”
Yea “Nobody expected Milan to get to the semi final” agreed but I guess no one also expected you guys to struggle for the top four spot after winning the SERIE A title, so what happened?