Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano defended his players after their 2-1 defeat to AC Milan.

Italiano was satisfied with their effort in the loss.

“I think we did everything we needed to do, especially limiting Milan in the first half, as they are in great form and the first objective was to lower their enthusiasm levels, which we achieved working man to man all over the pitch. The spirit of sacrifice was fantastic, but their goalkeeper made some stunning saves," Italiano told Sky Italia.

“We absolutely should not have conceded that second goal, but other than that I feel that we did our best. We honoured the memory of our director (Joe Barone), the lads were completely exhausted at the final whistle, we caused huge problems for a big team like Milan and tomorrow we start again.

“I don't think anyone could've complained if we had made it 2-2 and Maignan made two fantastic saves to avoid that. I think we played overall on level terms with Milan."

He added, “We recognised that we are lacking upfront and need to convert more of our chances. That is an issue for us, at times we cannot finish those opportunities and it is a recurring problem. We all talk about it, try to resolve it."