Gasperini’s comments after Milan v Roma

Here’s what the coach had to say.

What didn’t work out today in the final 25 to 30 metres?

“I find it hard to look for things that didn’t work out. I’d rather look at what did work, and many things did, I believe. This is the path we want to stay on. When you walk out of a match like the one we had tonight, you are disheartened by the result, but you’re also confident because of your performance.”

Is the set-up of the final 20 metres what forces you to think?

“We’ve made major improvements, if not in our finishing. We played a good first half; we created a lot. We suffered after we conceded the goal, but after that we responded well. I have trouble finding negative things we’ve done. We feel bad about the result. You miss penalties, it happens. There are many phases within a single match, and we didn’t read all of them as well as we could’ve.”

How’s Paulo Dybala?

“Apart from the penalty he missed, which of course hurts, what’s even worse if the injury he sustained during that circumstance. It’s a pity because Dybala had been playing a series of matches as the great player that he is, and it’s too bad he had to stop. He’ll probably be back after the break.”

Is the glass half full?

“Yes, but of course we have to improve certain things in these matches that we’ve lost. But the team are there, they play well on the pitch. We missed four penalties out of five, which is a lot. It cost us both in the league and in Europe. Some teams, after long final assaults, manage to score with a single key moment: that’s something we lack, we aren’t able to turn some key moments in your favour.”

Do you want to share a memory of Giovanni Galeone, with whom you played as a footballer?

“The best thing I learned – I was thinking about this earlier today – was during a match in Pisa. Towards the end of the match, I’d played three or four backpasses to the goalkeeper and he said to me: ‘We don’t resort to these little tricks; we play until the very end.’ That was something important he taught me. And it’s what I remember best.”