Milan never inferior to Juventus even with 10 men – Stefano Pioli insists

AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli has said his men are never inferior to Juventus, despite Malick Thiaw red card and various absentees.

Pioli’s men suffered a distasteful 1-0 home defeat to to Max Allegri’s men on Sunday’s Serie A fixture.

The match saw key absences for Milan, including Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez, Samuel Chukwueze and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

The game took another turn in the first half, when Malick Thiaw was sent off for fouling Moise Kean.

 

However, Pioli expressed his satisfaction with his team’s performance: “We played well with 11 men, we played well with 10 men and were at no point inferior to Juventus, so I feel we could’ve got the result.”

Analyzing the red card incident, Pioli noted the defensive errors: “Thiaw should’ve stalled rather than chase him down… It was a naive error, both individual and of the team. Thiaw was unlucky when he slipped, but he should’ve done better.”

Despite being down to 10 men, Milan tried to maintain their defensive set-up while attacking. However, Pioli admitted that the second half lacked intensity in his team’s midfield.

“We should’ve filled the box more with Reijnders and Musah pushing up,” Pioli explained.

Despite the result, he believes a positive outcome would have been fair considering the overall match performance.

The loss was Milan’s second in the Serie A this season, but they remain in second place, one point behind leaders Inter.

The manager remains optimistic, adding, “This defeat takes nothing off our confidence. We are not superficial in evaluating our performances.”