Spinazzola: Second half mistakes cost us

Second half goals from Ante Rebic and Hakan Calhanoglu sealed the three points for the Rossoneri on a hot afternoon in Lombardy - although Spinazzola denied that fitness levels had anything to do with the final result.

"We played well in the first half, we were compact and we had the chances to really hurt them,” Spinazzola said.

“In the second half we made mistakes and dropped too deep, we gave the ball away a lot. On two or three occasions in particular, with their quality they were able to do damage.”

Was that a physical problem or a mental one?

“I don’t think it was physical, we changed a lot of players today while they were more or less the same as on Wednesday – so I don’t think the fitness levels come into it. They had more space and with the quality they have they were able to make something out of it.”

Why did you pass the ball sideways so much? Is that a choice, or was it tough to break forward?

“In the first half we played high up the pitch, perhaps even too much on occasions. We tried to move the ball a lot from side-to-side to make them run more. In the second half we weren’t able to find the same passes, they pressed us better, higher and forced us to go long more often.

"Then, they would tend to win the loose ball and we would all have to run back. That’s how I saw it from the pitch, anyway - we will analyse the game again to understand what mistakes we made.”

In the second half did you drop deeper out of choice, or because Milan improved?

“No, we dropped back because of Milan. We wanted to play the same style as we did in the first half – taking control of the pitch, using the flanks to tire them a bit. We did not want to change our attitude, we ran into more trouble in the second half.”