Gabbia reflects on ‘difficult time’ after Sassuolo defeat: “Lick our wounds”

Matteo Gabbia spoke to the media after AC Milan’s defeat to Sassuolo and admitted that it’s a very difficult time for the Rossoneri. 

Sassuolo immediately took charge of the game at Mapei Stadium, finding the back of the net early, and then increased their dominance after Fikayo Tomori’s red card. They added a second goal in the second half and thus comfortably clinched all three points.

Gabbia was one of the players who struggled a bit more, given a 4.5/10 in our player ratings, and he was at least very honest in the post-match interview with DAZN (via MilanNews). He also admitted that it’s a difficult moment for the team.

What are your feelings right now?

“It’s definitely a difficult time that cannot make us happy. It’s normal to be angry and disappointed. The only thing we can do is pull ourselves together even more, embracing the pain we have put in this season to get the job over the line. The only way for us is to do that together.”

Can you tell us what happened with the fans after the match? We saw that Maignan told you to go back to the locker room…

“We went to greet the fans who supported us throughout the match. Naturally, they were angry today. We deserved the boos they gave us. It’s normal when you lose, it’s right that it should be like that and they should express their disappointment.

“We are also disappointed with what we showed on the pitch, but there’s little to say. I don’t see anything strange about it.”

Today, Milan didn’t seem like their usual self…

“It’s our responsibility that today wasn’t a positive match. We also have to give credit to Sassuolo, because they played a strong game. Right now, we need to lick our wounds. We had prepared for a different match, and the responsibility lies with us as a team.

“We need to try to do better, to be clear-headed, to have broad shoulders, to stay calm. This defeat must hurt, but it must unite us even more to achieve our goal. We need to improve on what we did poorly, and return to the pitch against Atalanta in a completely different way.”

Atalanta are up next for Milan and in order to avoid a complete disaster in the Champions League race, they will have to win that one. It remains to be seen what changes will be made for that one as whatever the Rossoneri had planned for today didn’t work.