Fabregas: ‘Como happy to lose like this, but Dele Alli grave mistake’
Cesc Fabregas insists Como are happy to ‘lose like this, you can call me a loser’ after their dramatic defeat to Milan, but is critical of Dele Alli for the red card. ‘It was a grave mistake.’
The Lariani had dominated the first half at San Siro and went into the break leading 1-0 thanks to a Lucas Da Cunha well-worked goal, only to be overturned after the break by Christian Pulisic and Tijjani Reijnders for 2-1.
“Only the first half? Maybe we saw a different game, because I saw Como play well for the whole match. It was two moments of magic from players worth over €60m and wear the Milan jersey,” Fabregas told DAZN.
“We were in front of 70,000 people at San Siro and played an incredible game. I’ve won a lot in my career, you can call me a loser today, but let me lose like this. I enjoy it, because seeing so many young players who come here and play this kind of football.
“It’s difficult to explain, as it has happened so many times this season, so perhaps people might say my mentality is a losing one, but working so hard all week and seeing the lads play like this, it’s a pleasure anyway.
“There are some areas where we must improve, it’s a process, but I saw a great performance.”
Fabregas rage at Como misfortune
It was put to Fabregas that the difference in the second half was that Como lowered the level of quality and precision, while Milan gained confidence.
“We cannot expect to come here against a Milan side that struggled and then wait for them to push harder.”
Como were furious at the sight of the Semi-Automatic Offside Technology when Da Cunha saw the goal for 2-0 disallowed by a matter of millimetres, where his shoulder was narrowly offside.
“Our bad luck is incredible this season, we are seeing last-gasp penalties, today a goal disallowed for a millimetre, which in my view is simply not offside. If they had stopped the camera when the ball had been played, that millimetre would be gone, it made no real difference to the goal,” raged Fabregas.
“Nonetheless, I remain positive and keep going forward. I congratulate Milan, it’s a world class club with great players.”
Dele Alli was not expected to make his debut this evening, his first competitive match since February 2023, but it lasted only 10 minutes until he was sent off for stamping on the back of Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s ankle.
“It was at that moment when Milan went 2-1 up and Sergi Roberto was meant to come on, but I’d prefer to give him another two weeks to train so he can be ready to start against Empoli,” explained Fabregas.
“Dele Alli is a player who can score goals, he perhaps didn’t deserve this opportunity because he has only been working with us for two weeks and has a lot to improve.
“It is a grave mistake, one that we should not see from a player of his experience. It was a clear red card, there’s nothing to be said about that, he left the team down to 10 men during a crucial moment when we were pushing for 2-2.
“That is the most negative thing about this evening, but we keep going.”
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