AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri has called for calm following their dramatic 5-3 loss to Manchester City in the Audi Cup on Wednesday.
The Rossoneri found themselves 5-0 down within 36 minutes as City ran riot against a fairly young Milan side, but Stephan El Shaarawy struck twice in quick succession before Andrea Petagna made it 5-3 before the break.
Allegri was certainly not happy with everything he saw in the first-half of the game, but with a young squad he also admitted that it was always going to be difficult to dominate a star-studded City side.
"We did badly in the first half-hour, as there was some timidity and we didn’t put in a single tackle," the coach told Sportmediaset.
"Many of the players had never been in an atmosphere like this. At this moment, with the recent internationals and many out of action with injuries, we knew that we were going to run into some difficulties.
"We should’ve done better in terms of character, but then we got the game back on track and in the second half went close to making it 5-4. There are players who had a decent game today.
"We are a team with seven or eight players under 20, so we must not be affected by paranoia after such defeats. It was impossible in the circumstances to think of coming here and dominating Manchester City."
