AC Milan's Paulo Fonseca criticizes penalty calls as a circus in defeat against Fiorentina

AC Milan manager Paulo Fonseca criticized the penalty decisions in his team's loss to Fiorentina on Oct 6, calling them a circus. He also admitted that his team lacked aggression throughout the match.

A wild night concluded with a 2-1 Serie A victory for Fiorentina after Milan had two penalties saved by David de Gea, while the hosts had a spot kick kept out by Mike Maignan.

In the aftermath, Fonseca was unequivocal in his assessment of the penalties given for both sides.

“I don’t like to talk about refereeing but this isn’t football. Football is about contact and a mere touch shouldn’t be enough to award a penalty,” he told broadcaster DAZN.

“Just a simple touch can lead to a penalty; we saw that this weekend as well. It makes everyone nervous, and that creates problems – this is football, not a circus.”

The 51-year-old also said that, despite their misfortune from the penalty spot, his team were deficient in several areas.

“In the first half, we lacked defensive aggression and strength in duels. The way we conceded goals clearly illustrates this; they almost always won the second balls,” he added.

“We weren’t disciplined in our structure.”

The drama began after 22 minutes when Fiorentina striker Moise Kean’s frustrating night took shape as Maignan saved his penalty. Minutes later, he did find the back of the net but his effort was disallowed as he was clearly offside.

Yacine Adli eventually broke the deadlock for Fiorentina 10 minutes before half-time with a low shot from the edge of the box, but the on-loan Milan midfielder did not celebrate the goal out of respect for his parent club.

Milan earned a penalty themselves just before the break but Theo Hernandez’s attempt was saved by de Gea, who made a stunning one-handed stop in the bottom corner.

Kean’s difficult night continued after the break when he had another effort ruled offside before de Gea kept out Tammy Abraham’s penalty nine minutes into the second half with a brilliant diving save.

It was the first time two penalties had been saved by one goalkeeper in a Serie A match since May 2016.

Milan finally scored on the hour mark when Christian Pulisic equalised with a perfect volley from a cross before Albert Gudmundsson’s 73rd-minute strike put Fiorentina back in front for good.

After three consecutive Serie A wins, Milan head into the international break in sixth place, but Fonseca was unfazed.

“In Italy, when you win, you’ve played a great match. If we don’t score, we’re the worst team in the world, just as I’m the worst coach. I know how things are,” he said. , AFP