AC Milan Wins Drama on Penalty Shootout against Rio Ave, These Are Stefano Pioli’s Comments

DBasia.news – 24 penalty kicks occurred in the Europa League Qualifying match between AC Milan and Rio Ave. Milan escaped and the coach Stefano Pioli commented on it.

The two teams played equally strong 2-2 until the extra round. Two goals from Rio Ave came from Francisco Geraldes (72′) and Gelson (91′). Meanwhile, AC Milan responded through Alexis Saelemaekers (51′) and Hakan Calhanoglu (120 + 2 P).

In the penalty shootout round, the two teams showed balanced abilities too. In fact, Milan could only win the 24th penalty kick. The final score on penalties was 9-8 for Il Diavolo Rosso’s victory.

For Pioli, the match against Rio Ave was very emotional. Because, Milan, who had been superior, turned back behind. In fact, Milan could only equalize towards the end of the second extra round.

“It’s difficult to control your emotions in a situation like that because we changed from maybe winning to maybe losing in the blink of an eye,” Pioli said as reported by Football Italia.

“This is also why you say penalties are a lottery. We do it with a mental approach to defend because we are a young team and it’s not easy to turn things around.”

Based on Opta Jose’s records, this is the first time AC Milan has won a match in European competition on penalties since the 2003 Champions League final against Juventus at Old Trafford.

“I’ve never seen anything like it (penalty), but that’s football. I think we played quite well in the game and let the goals be surprised,” explained the coach.

“In my career, I only lost the Coppa Italia final because of a shot like that. A penalty is like a lottery, but the players deserved it for their efforts.”

With this victory, Milan locked one ticket in the 2020-2021 Europa League final. Next, Gianluigi Donnarumma and his friends will face Spezia in the Serie A follow-up match.