Home » Pioli admits ‘mistakes’ but defends rotations in AC Milan loss

Pioli admits ‘mistakes’ but defends rotations in AC Milan loss

AC Milan conceded several goals, but coach Stefano Pioli justified his player rotations in the team’s 2-4 loss at Monza on Sunday.

Pioli cited left winger Rafael Leao as a missing link to his team. The Portuguese footballer is still recovering from a calf injury that affected the AC Milan coach’s rotation.

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Stefano Pioli acknowledges Milan made ‘too many serious errors that ruined’ their 4-2 defeat to Monza, but defends his squad rotation decisions. ‘Rafael Leao had a calf twinge' https://t.co/GT8aVu8diA #ACMilan #MonzaMilan #SerieA #Calcio #SerieATIM

— Football Italia (@footballitalia) February 18, 2024

“(Winger Christian) Pulisic didn’t train because he was tired, and Rafa (Leao) had to play, but he stopped finishing,” Pioli told DAZN as reported by MilanNews. “This morning, he kept saying that he didn’t feel free with his calf.”

“We made some mistakes that cost us the match. But when you concede four goals. But it’s also wrong to say that we did the first half hour as we should gave done,” he added.

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Milan slump to 4-2 loss at Monza and miss chance to go second https://t.co/uUDNqpHK6S pic.twitter.com/cNcBnVs4iY

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 18, 2024

Monza went up 2-0 after Pessina’s penalty and a deflected Mora shot. However, AC Milan responded with goals from substitutes Olivier Giroud and Pulisic to tie the match.

Waren Bondo scored to get Monza back the lead before Lorenzo Colombo, on loan from AC Milan, converted his first goal to finish the match.

Pioli hopes to improve AC Milan’s defense moving forward.

“The too many goals conceded away from home is something that needs to be improved,” the coach said.