Stephano Pioli claims Milan were not psychologically ready for 10-man Torino
AC Milan manager Stephano Pioli believes that his side’s inability to beat 10-man Torino was because they were not psychologically ready.
Stefano Poili’s side ended up losing the game in extra time to Torino by a goal to nil.
Milan’s wait to lift their sixth Coppa Italia will extend to at least 21 years after they failed to take advantage of Koffi Djidji’s red card, with Michel Adopo firing Torino through in extra time.
The Rossoneri were unable to beat impressive visiting goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic despite introducing big names including Rafael Leao, Olivier Giroud and Theo Hernandez, before Adopo capped a rapid break with a penalty shoot-out looming.
After Djidji was shown his second yellow card for a mistimed challenge on Junior Messias with 20 minutes of normal time remaining, Pioli acknowledged Milan lost their way.
“We thought the match had become easy and when you think like this you lose your lucidity, you play frenetically,” he said at a post-match press conference.
“We certainly made many mistakes in the offensive phase, without dribbling speed, without having patience to move the defence, which became very dense and physical.
“We have faced the numerical superiority badly, mentally.”
Wednesday’s defeat followed a dramatic 2-2 Serie A draw with Roma in which Milan threw away a two-goal lead late on, but Pioli feels the pair of results represent something of an anomaly.
“These are just episodes. The results are penalising us beyond our performances,” the Milan boss added.
“But if tonight we were eliminated by a team with a numerical inferiority, it means that there is something to improve.
“It’s a big disappointment, it was our aim to go forward in the Coppa Italia and we did not succeed. We all have to do better because this is not the level of the team.”
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