AC Milan boss Paulo Fonseca believes Christian Pulisic & Co “stopped playing” after falling behind against Liverpool in the Champions League.
Milan went down 3-1 to Liverpool
Fonseca furious with Milan players
Claimed that they did not follow the plan.
WHAT HAPPENED?
The Reds sealed a memorable comeback at San Siro after falling behind early through a Pulisic goal. Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk found the net from set pieces while Dominik Szoboszlai scored the third to ensure that Liverpool emerged triumphant on Italian soil.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Fonseca has had a troubled start to life in Milan with just five points from four Serie A games and the hammering against Liverpool forced the manager to admit that the “team lacks confidence”. He blasted his players for their failure to execute his plans and accused them of losing “mental balance” during the game.
WHAT FONSECA SAID
In an interview with Sky Sport Italia, Fonseca said: “We played against Liverpool, who are a huge team. We started well, both attacking and defending, but then we conceded two goals from set plays that changed the game.
“We lost our mental balance because when the team lacks confidence, we develop problems and don’t do what we prepared in training. I told the players, you cannot make those mistakes in this kind of game. At the same time, I have to admit Liverpool are more of a team right now than we are, we need to keep working to have not 20 good minutes, but 70, 80, 90 minutes playing our football. After we conceded the second goal, the team stopped playing, and it became difficult after that.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Fonseca wanted Rafael Leo to run at Trent Alexander-Arnold but the Portuguese hardly received any service from his midfielders.
“It was something we prepared in the little time that we had, try to put Leao against their right-back,” he said. “We did it once or twice in the match. What we prepared was to send Rafa one-on-one against him and we hardly did it.”
WHAT NEXT FOR MILAN?
After a humbling defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League, Fonseca’s troops have little time to regroup as Milan will get back in action on Sunday in the Derby della Madonnina against Inter – who remain unbeaten in Serie A.
