AC Milan finished an exhausting seven-year wait for Champions League football on Sunday night. The Rossoneri had a disappointing scoreless draw with Cagliari in a Serie A match held at San Siro. Victory over the 16th-placed Sardinians would have guaranteed Milan a top-four finish and their first appearance in European football’s top club competition since 2013-14. Following the bitter result, head coach of AC Milan Stefano Pioli elucidates on Cagliari draw.
Milan failed to defeat Cagliari for the first time in a home league match since October 1999. Stefano Pioli’s side could have sealed Champions League qualification with a victory at San Siro on Sunday had they beaten Cagliari but they held to a goalless draw.
Since January 2020 in the last 56 games, it was Milan’s first 0-0 draw in Serie A. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was absent in the starting XI of Milan, who played against Cagliari, due to injury.
Stefano Pioli on Cagliari draw
Stefano Pioli has spoken out on the Serie A match against Cagliari (0-0).
“There’s no point in thinking about what could have been. We have to concentrate on the next match. In terms of pace and quality, we were not at the level we have shown in recent matches,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“Today there was a little bit of everything. We knew that if we won it would be over, so there was a bit of tension, a bit of fear, a bit of misplaced confidence that we can win by playing badly. But we had to fight for every point. We had to move the ball faster and create better chances, that’s all.”
“We have done a great job this season. Today we are disappointed, we know that Atalanta are the only team we have failed to beat during my time at AC Milan. Obviously, we have to do our best to achieve that.”
“People used to say that we were totally dependent on Zlatan and after a couple of matches they said we were playing better without him. Both are not true.”
“Given the way we’ve played, everything we’ve done, how much we’ve grown over the year, the fact of not being in the top 4 would certainly be a disappointment.”
“It still can’t be called a failure because I feel we’ve laid the groundwork to make it happen in the near future. The top four was our target at the beginning of the season, but we definitely didn’t have to go there.”
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