AC Milan players apologise to ultras following heated confrontation at full-time after Spezia defeat
AC Milan players apologize to ultras after heated full-time confrontation after defeat to Spezia jeopardizes top four hopes
- Spezia scored two goals in the second half as Milan’s recent form took a turn for the worse
- Several members of the squad, including manager Stefano Pioli, were involved
- Milan will meet rivals Inter on Tuesday in an attempt to overcome a 2-0 deficit
The AC Milan players confronted their own fans on Saturday after a shock defeat in Serie A.
The Champions League semi-finalists lost 2-0 to relegation-placed Spezia in the division to complete their nightmare week following their defeat to rivals Inter on Wednesday.
The club are now outside the Champions League places in the table and their fans were not happy with the result, perhaps still hurt by their poor performance against their rivals.
Several players, including Simon Kjaer, Olivier Giroud and captain Theo Hernandez, walked out to the fans after the full-time whistle, which also involved manager Stefano Pioli.
There was some back and forth between the two groups before going their separate ways for Milan to begin preparations to try to come back from 2-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
AC Milan players were involved in a heated confrontation with their own fans on Saturday
The team lost 2-0 for the second time in a week as they went down to lowly Spezia
Kjar told DAZN via Football Italy that the fans made their feelings clear in the altercation.
He said: “They said this night was insufficient, but there is a game on Tuesday that we just have to cancel today and prepare for another war.
“To be honest, I don’t know who started it. I saw it in a positive way, I was surprised by how our fans were always close to us even when we played badly. I realize it may not look good, but they were right behind us.
“If I knew how to solve this problem, we would be in a different position this season. It’s hard to understand why we struggled so much in this kind of game and threw away too many points. It simply wasn’t enough and we need to improve this aspect of our performance.”
Two second-half goals shocked humble Spezia, condemning Pioli’s side to their first league defeat in two months and denting their top four hopes.
Defender Przemyslaw Wisniewski and midfielder Salvatore Esposito helped Spezia take their first win in nine games and move them closer to safety.
Milan, meanwhile, have won just two of their last seven league matches.
They remained fifth in the standings with 61 points, two behind fourth-placed Inter, who will host Sassuolo later on Saturday.
Simon Kjaer insisted the collision was ‘positive’ despite the heated discussions
“It is normal that we think about the Champions League and it is normal that we were disappointed with the result of the first leg,” said Pioli.
But we know that the season comes from both the championship and the Champions League and this defeat complicates our future.
Now we don’t have many chances to be positive this season. Tuesday is a good chance, we have to believe that we can beat Inter.’
Milan had clear chances to take the lead in an entertaining first half when Sandro Tonali hit the post in the sixth minute and a powerful shot from outside the box by Theo Hernandez was saved by goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski.
Stefano Piolo’s side are tasked with overturning a 2-0 Champions League semi-final deficit on Tuesday
Milan striker Brahim Diaz hit the outside of the post from a tight angle and Spezia’s Nzola forced Milan keeper Mike Maignan to save a low shot.
Spezia took a surprising lead on a corner in the 75th minute, after Kelvin Amian’s header bounced off the post and Wisniewski scored the rebound.
Esposito sealed the victory for Spezia with a stunning free kick that flew into the top left corner five minutes from time.
It was the first time since 2017 that Milan lost to opponents in the bottom three places in the standings.