Parma head coach Carlos Cuesta sent his thoughts to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and dodged a question about the winner against AC Milan.
Back in 1993, Milan went into a home game against Parma with a 58-game unbeaten run on the line, and lost 1-0 to an Asprilla free-kick. While last night it was only a 24-game streak at stake, the scoreline was the same and again it came from a second-half free-kick.
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The winning moment was a controversial one, given that the goal was initially disallowed for a foul on Mike Maignan, Davide Bartesaghi or possibly both as Troilo rose to head in a corner in the 80th minute. The incident has divided expert opinion, but most question the VAR review.
Parma coach Carlos Cuesta spoke to Sky after the final whistle to give his thoughts on the game, and MilanNews transcribed what he had to say on a night full of drama.
What gives you the most satisfaction?
“We need to stay very balanced throughout the game. I want to talk about Loftus-Cheek first and hope he’s okay, our thoughts are with him. We knew we shouldn’t leave Milan any space and limit them. When we had the ball, we should have caused them problems: sometimes we succeeded.
“We knew they were in control of the ball and we had to be organised. What’s incredible is this team’s mentality: it’s not easy to stay focused for so many minutes against such a strong team, in such a stadium. We’re happy with the result, but there’s still a lot to do.”
It’s three consecutive victories now too…
“I’m staying very balanced: football changes quickly. 14 days ago, we weren’t that bad when we lost to Juventus and Atalanta, and today we’re not great: we’re the same and I work the same way. What depends on us is the quality of our work: we have to do it a lot and do it better.”
Did you plan Valenti’s position for the goal?
“When we’re in set pieces, we try to have our players ready to score. We knew we weren’t very strong today: we needed more passes, those counter-attacks couldn’t be quick, but more elaborate.
“There were definitely moments of positive manoeuvring. This is part of the team’s growth. The defensive growth is tangible.”
