Claudio Ranieri admitted that he knew his side would ‘suffer’ at the hands of AC Milan last night, and they did as they fell to a 4-1 defeat at San Siro in the Coppa Italia last 16.
Milan secured progression to the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia with a comfortable win in the end. It was essentially over at half-time thanks to the Luka Jovic and Theo Hernandez show, with the defender setting up the striker twice for a brace.
There was a great moment the second half for Chaka Traore as he scored his first ever goal for the Rossoneri to make it 3-0, then Rafael Leao ended his goal drought to make it 4-1 after Paolo Azzi had got one back for the away side.
Sassuolo or Atalanta now await for Milan in the final eight of the competition, which could be targeted given Inter and Napoli are out of the competition already, while Cagliari must return to a fight for Serie A survival.
Ranieri spoke to the reporters who gathered in the conference room at San Siro to assess what was a difficult night for his side, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
How did you see the game?
“I’m very sorry. I knew we would suffer. We even started well, then after the first goal we melted like snow in the sun. And this is not good for a team that has to fight to save itself.
“Losing against Milan is okay, but if they were to have to work hard for the victory… I thought there were players who would put me in difficulty in my choices, but that’s not good.”
What was missing?
“There are few goals that you analyse by saying well done, the opponent is a great champion. There was too much carelessness, lack of astuteness. A golden opportunity was lost to show me that they [the reserves] should always play.”
Did you expect Milan to play like this?
“I expected my team… I don’t accept that my team got scared. Pioli put Leao in at the last minute because he could score a goal and also recover mentally: he did well.
“From someone who doesn’t always play I expected a vigorous and instead they are a bit shipwrecked. You can’t lose like that.”
