STEFANO SPEAKS
AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli said this to RAI Sport at full time:
“It’s disappointing that we went out, because we cared about this competition.
“The performance shows we are a strong team who can hold out well, but going a man down made it much more difficult.”
On the altercation between Lukaku and Ibrahimovic:
“The situation was an influence, as the first yellow card then led to the second. They are two giants, they said something to each other, I don’t know what. It happens, we have to look forward.
“What didn’t work was that down to 10 men, it was much more complicated, and we were naïve with the foul to give away the penalty.
“However, I leave this defeat feeling much more positive and confident about our future than I was after the Atalanta game.
“It was a very balanced match, the only difference was having a man down. If it was 11 against 11, it was open to any result and we were 1-0 up.”
