Allegri explains AC Milan choices: ‘I needed to keep options’

Max Allegri explains his tactical decisions after AC Milan beat Fiorentina with a Rafael Leao brace to go top of the table. ‘I needed to have some options off the bench.’

The Rossoneri knew this was a huge opportunity to go top of the table after defeats for Roma, Napoli and Juventus this weekend, so the pressure was on.

However, he also had to deal with a massive injury crisis that ruled out Adrien Rabiot, Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christopher Nkunku, Pervis Estupinan and Ardon Jashari.

Robin Gosens gave Fiorentina the surprising lead at San Siro with their first real chance, but Rafael Leao turned it around for a 2-1 victory with a strike from distance and converting a very controversial penalty.

“I can only say that the team played well. Until their goal, I don’t think Fiorentina had a single shot, whereas we had a couple of chances with Tomori and Pavlovic from set plays, plus a dangerous Athekame cross,” Allegri told DAZN Italia.

“We reacted well to going behind and the team fought to the end for the victory.”

Leao had been used as a centre-forward in pre-season with limited success, and here too he seemed to struggle until the introduction of Santiago Gimenez.

“He had more freedom to roam with Gimenez, but he can play as a centre-forward too, as Fofana was pushing forward and that allowed us to fill the penalty area with players coming from deeper.

“Besides, I needed to have some options to come off the bench, otherwise I had nobody else. After Athekame’s yellow card, I called Gimenez, but Fiorentina scored before I could make the change. When so many players are missing in the same area, I had to evaluate the course of the 90 minutes, it was important to keep options open,” continued Allegri.

Milan have had a disastrous record from penalties in recent months, but with so many players out of action, it was still surprising to see Leao convert the first spot-kick he has ever taken in Serie A.

“I told Rafa to take the penalty, he had tried this morning in training and did it well. Fofana is a good penalty taker too, we need to improve our success rate. I rarely watch when my teams take penalties, it brought me luck in Turin, and again this evening,” explained Allegri.

This is the first time Milan have been alone at the top of the Serie A table since Week 8 in 2023-24. Is Allegri sending a message to the rest of the league about the Scudetto race?

“We are not sending any message. It was a victory, we need many more points to achieve our objective for the season. We hope to get Loftus-Cheek or Nkunku back for the next game, if not then we’ll still be this group of players.

“We just need to keep going and not get too ahead of ourselves.”