Tribal Football

AC Milan coach Fonseca admits De Gea twin penalty saves key for Fiorentina victory

AC Milan coach Fonseca admits De Gea twin penalty saves key for Fiorentina victory
AC Milan coach Fonseca admits De Gea twin penalty saves key for Fiorentina victoryAction Plus
AC Milan coach Paulo Fonseca was left frustrated after their 2-1 defeat at Fiorentina.

Former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea denied Tammy Abraham and Theo Hernandez from the penalty spot to help Fiorentina to the win.

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Mike Maignan also saved a penalty from Fiorentina striker Moise Kean, as the Viola won through goals from Milan-owned Yacine Adli and Albert Gudmundsson, with Christian Pulisic having levelled for the visitors.

“I who love football do not want to contribute to this circus. Everything is a penalty now, in our favour or against, this is not football when you give a penalty for the slightest touch. I don’t want to get into it,” Fonseca told DAZN.

“I think we’d done well with this structure until now, it’s not that Fiorentina created that many opportunities. What we lacked was being aggressive. In the first half, it was too easy to allow the goal on a throw-in and the second goal too with the long ball. I told my players, it’s not a tactical issue, it’s not being aggressive in defending and attacking.

“When you fail to convert two penalties, it’s tough to win a game, no matter how many chances you create. I felt like the crosses into the box didn’t have enough quality either.”

He added, “It is honestly difficult to explain how they scored those goals. It was a lack of determination, as we weren’t as aggressive closing down those spaces as in recent games, so that allowed Fiorentina to play it long and win the second ball."