AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli was left unhappy with the decision making of referee Maurizio Mariani during last night’s defeat to Inter.
The game ended 3-0 in favour of the Nerazzurri but the key incident game midway through the second half when Ismael Bennacer’s goal had halved the deficit, only for VAR to check for a potential handball on Tomori and then come away with the decision that Kalulu was offside.
Pioli spoke to the microphones of Milan TV after the game to talk about the decision but also the result and the performance of his team, with MilanNews relaying his comments.
“You have never seen a goalkeeper who concedes a goal and who does not protest when he thinks he has conceded an offside goal. They protested for the handball and not for the offside. We lost, I am sorry for the fans and for the team, and now we have to react with conviction and I’m sure the team will do it,” he said
“Inter were better than us because they used the situations better than us. We conceded the second goal after a clear chance inside the area. In the second half we tried and reacted well, we were more in their half of the pitch and a goal could reopen the game and not scoring it created a psychological backlash.
“Even tonight we created many dangerous situations but we were unable to make them concrete. We will have to try to be more concrete in the last few championship races.
“We have a great opportunity to show what we have become, now we have to show that we are determined, that we have quality and that we want to be protagonists in the league. We expect a difficult match against Lazio but we have the right qualities to do well. We have the will necessary to do well.
“It was not the best match. We could have managed the ball better on a technical level, we made two defensive mistakes that we didn’t make recently. The result is too clear for the match we played but it must teach us that we need more determination and quality to win.”
