Allegri explanation on Leao and Gimenez as Milan ‘need more belief’

Max Allegri reveals why he took Rafael Leao and Santiago Gimenez off against Atalanta, insisting Milan ‘need to have more belief in what we are doing’ in attack.

The Rossoneri had been hoping to close back up to the top spot after losing it with last week’s 2-2 draw against Pisa.

Instead, they have fallen further behind with another stalemate, as Samuele Ricci saw his early deflected strike cancelled out by an Ademola Lookman moment of magic.

La Dea had the best chance to win it, with Mike Maignan’s fingertip save denying Davide Zappacosta late on.

“We have a few absentees, but the team is reacting well,” Allegri told DAZN Italia.

“We were forced to defend ourselves in the first half after the goal because we were making a lot of technical errors, while we did better after the break, creating chances and making the wrong choices in the final third. That is where we must improve, the team needs to have more belief in what it is doing.

“Atalanta could not continue keeping that high press throughout and we knew they’d run out of steam, but in those moments we needed to improve our finishing and our choices in the final third.

“The goal we conceded was avoidable too on the through ball, but the team must be proud of its performance and prepare for the next match against Roma.”

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Some decisions prompted concerns, as Rafael Leao was replaced by Christopher Nkunku at half-time, then Santiago Gimenez limped off with an ankle knock.

They have limited options now, with Christian Pulisic, Adrien Rabiot, Pervis Estupinan and Ardon Jashari injured, but Ruben Loftus-Cheek made his comeback off the bench.

“Leao had a little problem with his hip, he wasn’t in great shape at the end of the first half, so the team needed fresh legs and Rafa was struggling to sprint, so I preferred to take him off,” explained Allegri.

“Gimenez just had a knock, it shouldn’t be particularly serious for Leao either, and hopefully we’ll have Estupinan back against Roma too. I hope that after the break for international duty, we’ll have everyone back and fit, but until then we’ve got to grit our teeth.”

If Rafael Leao is not delivering, then Milan struggle to have any real presence in the opposition penalty area.

“Nkunku did very well as a centre-forward and Atalanta dropped off, while Loftus-Cheek had 20 extraordinary minutes, but it is during those positive spells we need to score goals. We had favourable situations in the second half and only allowed the one real chance when we gave the ball away,” insisted Allegri.

“Gimenez worked hard for the team, he needs to relax, the goals will come sooner or later.”