Ruben Amorim criticizes all AC Milan players except one after tough Europa League loss.
Ruben Amorim said his AC Milan team “wasn’t ready to play football” after their surprising 2-0 loss to Ferencvaros. Despite the tough night, he did praise one player in particular.
On Thursday, Milan lost their third Europa League game in four matches, with Lenny Joseph scoring twice in the second half. It was a rough evening for the Italian giants, and coach Amorim pointed to the absence of centre-back Strahinja Pavlovic after a shaky defensive performance at San Siro.
Pavlovic, who has played almost every minute this season, was rested by Amorim and his staff — a choice that might have backfired. After the game, Amorim used Pavlovic as an example for the whole team to follow.
“We’re not ready to compete on two fronts,” he said. “We need to change how we see football and how we approach matches. Tonight, there are no excuses. I usually defend the team, but not this time. We need to be more humble and learn from this. Everyone should train as hard as Pavlovic. He’s ready to give his all in training. He’s a great example.”
When asked about what went wrong against Ferencvaros, Amorim was at a loss for words.
“There’s no easy explanation,” he told Sky Sports Italia. “Especially in the first half, I don’t remember seeing us play so badly before. It’s about ambition and focus. We gave away chances and made silly mistakes. We just weren’t ready to play tonight.”
Amorim took some responsibility for the poor performance but also mentioned problems that have carried over from last season.
“Maybe I made a mistake in the past two days, but the team had similar issues last season,” he said. “We need to find a solution. We weren’t ready tonight, and we showed no courage. If we don’t win, we should at least show effort to turn things around. But we didn’t see that tonight.”
AC Milan will look to bounce back on Sunday, November 8, when they face Genoa at the Luigi Ferraris. Right now, Amorim’s team sits fifth in Serie A, seven points behind the leaders, Lazio.