Milan, Montella: “Bitter but hopeful; we played with personality. Penalty kick taker? Niang was the best”

Milan find themselves feeling regret for the missed penalty, and anger for the goal they conceded. Milan leaves the Stadio Olimpico with zero points after the loss to Roma. Vincenzo Montella spoke to Sky Sport after the match: “This game was determined by many variables; focusing on one error is not right. Romagnoli cleared the ball, but they won the aerial duel and Nianggolan found himself behind our midfielders. I saw a tentative game for 20 minutes as each side showed respect for the other. Then we took the game in hand, and could have also taken the lead. The goal broke the balance. I am saddened by the result mostly because of the morale of the players as opposed to where it places us on the Serie A table. Often times it is said that Milan is lucky, but today we were not. We must be bitter but hopeful, because we played with a lot of personality. We are the youngest team, and I cannot ask any more from the players. You cannot buy maturity. However, they are the reason we have been successful this season, and we must be proud of this. We are growing a lot as are our adversaries. I will just say that in sixteen games no one has put us in significant difficulty. This must give the conviction to our players that we are on the right path. Then, only time will indicate to us what our objectives are. The penalty kick taker? Niang was the best among those on the field. It is rare to miss two in a row. Last time he was lucky because we won, but unfortunately things turned out differently today. But I will judge him on his performance, and he has grown a lot in these past few months. Today he had to go up against Rudiger who is a good opponent; he was not able to prevail, but he did many things which he would not have done in the past.”