AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli couldn’t hide his anger as his side fell victim to a dreadful officiating display and lost to Spezia in the final seconds at San Siro on Monday evening.
Milan were stunned in the final minute by lowly Spezia as they won for the first time ever at San Siro thanks to a last minute goal from Emmanuel Gyasi, who completed a second half comeback for the Ligurian side after Kevin Agudelo had cancelled out Rafael Leao’s opener.
There was an absolutely baffling moment in added time though as Junior Messias thumped the ball into the top corner only to find out the referee blew less than a second before for a foul on Ante Rebic, therefore not playing advantage.
Pioli spoke to DAZN after the game and expressed his confusion and rage that such a decision was made given that it cost his side not only the win but also a point as well given Spezia would go on and score in the final seconds.
“I tried to calm the players down and I couldn’t, but I couldn’t. We knew we had been wronged. Too bad, the responsibilities are ours for the goal conceded, but they must be shared with the referee. Strange, because he had never whistled half-fouls. We didn’t have to be just 1-0 up in the first half, we had chances to win it. A bad evening,” he said (via MilanNews).
“When you create 7-8 scoring chances, it means that you are in the game. Provedel made many saves. We had some difficulties in the second half, but we had the situations to win it. And then we lost it.
“We missed an opportunity. We weren’t able to take a win we wanted and we need to think about the next match. Everyone can have a bad day and we have to get back to running fast.”
On Bakayoko and Krunic: “We built with Baka between the lines. It is a fact that they did not have the perfect mechanisms at all. After such a defeat it is good to have heavy games like Juventus and Inter that will help us to get back up.
“After such a negative match in terms of the result and how it came about, we have to react. We didn’t deserve defeat. We have to do better on the first goal conceded. Matches can also be won 1-0.”
RATINGS: AC Milan 1-2 Spezia – Kalulu mistakes costly in tough defeat