Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes that Milan played their worst game of their Champions League campaign so far during the 1-0 defeat against Porto.
The Rossoneri have made qualification for the knockout stages a very unlikely possibility after suffering a third defeat on the spin in the competition, and the third by just a solitary goal as Luis Diaz’s second half strike gave the hosts all three points at the Estadio do Dragao.
Milan were below par for virtually the entire game and certainly didn’t deserve anything from it despite the fact there was some controversy surrounding Diaz’s goal with Bennacer flattened in the build-up.
Ibrahimovic spoke to Sky Italia after the game and offered his thoughts on what exactly went wrong but began by discussing his condition.
“Well, today I played more minutes than in the last game. I miss the time to find rhythm. This is to find the feeling to get back on the pitch,” he said (via MilanNews).
“Of the three games we played this is the worst but even when we played well, we brought home zero points. These games are for growth. For many this is the first time in the Champions League and they only have to learn. But these are excuses, we are Milan and we must also win in the Champions League, not just in the league.
“We must continue, the world has not fallen because we lost today. We are fine in the league and we must continue like this but we must also do it in the Champions League. There are three games left and we must try to do something. We must not lose confidence. I prefer to stay on the pitch than off, but slowly now I’m back.”
Milan can still qualify for the last 16 but they need to win at least two of their final three games and in the meantime hope for Liverpool to keep steamrolling through.
READ MORE: Leao admits Porto ‘deserved’ win and labels Champions League ‘very different’ from Serie A
We are not at Champions League level at all…It is that simple..we may blame injuries, refs, whatever….we are just not good enough…we are even bottom of the group in UEFA Youth League as well..We are not at this level..yet. The faster we get out the better..we should be focussing on the Serie A..which is a level we can win at..UCL is far to much for our team. Look at the money these teams spend..we cannot compete with that right now..It is better to focus at Home and finally win another Scudetto instead of wasting energy in a competition we are not good enough for.
Giving up already? If it takes another 3 more beatings to be really test the CL then so be it. This is part of growing pains that we have experience to be better. Can’t handle the beatings? Then just stay in the mid table and drop Ac Milan as the club’s name.