Red card? The key moment of the match, Stefano Pioli acknowledged. What did the AC Milan coach say about the match against Slavia?

It could have been a much more even game, but in the end the red card decided the fate of the return leg of the Europa League semi-final between Slavia and AC Milan. In his post-match interview, Rossoneri coach Stefano Pioli admitted that the sending off of Tomáš Holeš was the key moment. How did the AC coach assess the clash with Slavia?

At San Siro 2:4, at home 1:3. Slavia got seven goals from AC Milan in the Europa League eight-final and failed to advance to the quarter-finals.

Whether the Susians would have succeeded against the Italian club in normal circumstances is a question we will not know the answer to. However, it is clear to all the players that the red card for Tomáš Holeš influenced the match considerably.

In the post-match interview, even Stefano Pioli acknowledged this. The AC coach, however, points out that his charges were dangerous even when playing 11-on-11. After all, this is still a seven-time Champions League winner that has a plethora of star individuals in its squad.

The Sparta and Slavia games showed one thing, and that is what Czech teams still lack internationally. The world giants only need one chance to score, as Tijjani Reijnders showed in the first match against the compact defence of Slavia, or Rafael Leão, who scored a wonderful goal in the return match.

Darwin Núñez, for example, did the same in Sparta’s match against Liverpool. Both famous world teams then took their foot off the gas and rather saved their energy for the next matches. The Rossoneri specifically for Sunday when they travel to Verona.

Pioli on the red card and progression to the quarter-finals

“They started well, but we expected that. The fact that there was one less afterwards gave us an advantage, but we were dangerous before that. I think we played the game well. I think it’s easy to identify that the red card was the key moment of the game,” said the AC Milan coach.

“We played a better game than at San Siro, we had a lot of chances to score. But the main thing is that we won and are moving on,” he added.

AC goalkeeper Mike Maignan was injured early in the game and had to miss a large part of the opening minutes due to treatment. However, Pioli said his injury does not appear to be serious.

“It doesn’t look serious, which is good. Of course, Mike had to come off the field, so we had one less substitution, but the pace in the second half dropped significantly from what it could have been in an 11-on-11 game,” concluded Pioli.

Source: UEFA, AC Milan