De Rossi takes the blame for Stanciu’s costly penalty miss in Milan 1-1 Genoa

Daniele De Rossi took the responsibility for Nicolae Stanciu’s last-minute penalty miss at the end of Genoa’s 1-1 Serie A draw away against Milan on Thursday night: ‘I’m sorry for him, he deserved to celebrate, as did the others after the game we played.” 

It was a slightly confusing evening for 17th-placed Genoa, who would have been delighted with a point prior to kick-off, but left San Siro feeling empty-handed after a chaotic end to proceedings in San Siro. 

Lorenzo Colombo had given the visitors a first-half lead, which went unanswered until Rafael Leao’s 92nd minute equaliser from a corner. Genoa had an opportunity to snatch all three points with virtually the final kick of the game, but Stanciu blazed his spot-kick over the crossbar, which kept the scores level. 

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

“It was a fair draw,” De Rossi declared during his post-match interview with DAZN.

“They (Milan) didn’t deserve to lose in the second half, but we deserved to win. We had a great first half against a very strong team, but there’s a lot of bitterness when a game ends like that.”

De Rossi was asked why second-half substitute Stanciu was chosen to take the penalty in the final minute of the game. 

“Before the game, we had two penalty takers: Malinovskyi and Martin, but I brought them both off,” De Rossi explained. “It was my choice (to let Stanciu take it) because I’ve seen how he takes them in training and has an incredible shot.

“Given the other players that were on the pitch, I thought it was a reasonable choice. I’m sorry for him because he’s a great guy, who never lowers his professionalism, even if he isn’t playing. He deserved to celebrate, as did the others given the game we played.”