A shocking decision... Allegri explains why he left Leao and Pulišić out of the squad against Napoli

Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri has confirmed that his side are no longer in contention for the Serie A title this season.

This came after Milan lost 1-0 to Napoli on Monday in the 31st round of the Serie A.

Watch Serie A for free on stc tv for customers of the Biti Fibre, Mufotter 4, Max, Pro 4 and Pro 5 packages

Allegri said in post-match comments highlighted by the Italian network DAZN: “The title race is no longer for us, but we still have work to do to achieve our goal of securing a place in the Champions League.”

He added: “The match saw few chances and we felt that a single moment would make the difference, and Napoli managed to capitalise on the situation, even though our defence was in the right position at the moment of the goal. We should have been quicker to finish our attacks in the second half, but we hesitated and gave them the chance to close down the spaces.”

On the risk of starting with an attacking duo who had never played together before, Allegri explained: “I think Nkonko and Folkrug put in a good performance… Christopher worked hard for the team and had two chances; a player of his calibre needs to score from one of those.”

Getty Images

He continued: “Football is all about these moments, and the whole team played well. We allowed Spinazzola one shot in the first half; it shouldn’t have gone through. We suffered from a few rebounds and won the ball back three or four times in their half, but we were poor with our passing. This lack of precision is a factor, and we need to improve to achieve our goal.".

On the possibility of using a 4-3-3 formation in future, Allegri said: “It’s a system we could try, but it depends on the players’ fitness levels, because Pulisic returned on Friday from the international break and Leao has been out for two weeks and has only had two partial training sessions. I could have brought him on earlier, but I preferred to stick with the current system for a while. Unfortunately, Rafa started the season well but has suffered a run of injuries.”

Click here to read article