AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli admitted his side has a long way to go after a 2-1 home defeat to Liverpool.
The Rossoneri needed a win on Tuesday to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stages. The defeat sees them finish bottom of their group and drop out of Europe entirely. A second half error by their English goalscorer allowed Divock Origi to put Liverpool ahead.
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Speaking to Sky Italia, Pioli said: “We have to bring home the awareness that the level in Europe is very high.
“I knew the difficulty of the group and of tonight’s match, unfortunately, we didn’t give a great pace to the match and from a technical point of view it wasn’t ours. best match.
“There is disappointment because we wanted to stay in Europe.”
Pioli went into more detail on the goals conceded. For the opener, Milan were slow to react to a parry from goalkeeper Mike Maignan. For the second, a sideways pass saw Tomori lose the ball to Sadio Mane near his own box.
Pioli continued: “On the first one it is difficult to be placed better, on the rebound of the goalkeeper you have to be more ready.
“In the two goals we conceded, our mistakes were more than the quality of the opponents.
“We have to improve and make fewer mistakes.”
Milan’s coach admitted that his side are a long way off competing with the best teams in Europe. The Serie A leaders lost to a Liverpool side resting eight of their best XI, an indication of the gulf in class.
Pioli said: “We are not yet ready to compete with teams like Liverpool which are one of the candidates to win the Champions League.
“We have a long way to go, we all know that. The fans have been fantastic, we are sorry for them. We will try to do better.”
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Milan captain happy with performance
AC Milan captain Alessio Romagnoli believed his side put up a good display despite the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool.
Back in the starting lineup because of the injury absence of Simon Kjaer, he could not prevent his side from losing and dropping out of European football altogether.
Romagnoli told Mediaset: “We knew it was difficult but we had a good match. We started the first half strong, sorry we tried our best but it was a very difficult group.”
The captain was also realistic when he was discussing his side’s long injury list.
He said: “Injuries are part of the game. Whoever played was ready. We had to collect something in previous matches but that’s how it went. We could have done better in Liverpool and with Atletico, we had to be more cynical.
“It wasn’t an easy group but we’ll try again next year if we deserve to qualify.”
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