Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 8y

AC Milan's Christian Abbiati slams his teammates 'unacceptable' attitude

AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati has slammed the "unacceptable" attitude of his teammates after they were held to a goalless draw by Chievo on Sunday.

Abbiati, who made a rare appearance in the Milan goal as a replacement for the injured Gianluigi Donnarumma early on in the game, says the Rossoneri showed no hunger to win at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, and can therefore have no complaints about picking up just a point.

After losing 1-0 at Sassuolo last weekend, Milan's hopes of qualifying for Europe next season suffered another setback and the 38-year-old said the players only have themselves to blame.

"We had an unacceptable attitude right from the start today," he told Mediaset television. 

"I'm lost for words for that first half an hour. We needed to show far more hunger.

"I'm not going to name names, but I'm sick of seeing teammates get offended when you shout at them because they just think you are being mean when in fact you are trying to be constructive."

Milan's two last results have stalled their rise up the Serie A standings, leaving them six points adrift of city rivals Inter Milan, who occupy the last position which would earn a place in the Europa League next season.

"We got it wrong today and we got it wrong against Sassuolo," bemoaned Abbiati.

"We've been playing like Milan for two months and getting great results, going nine games without losing, but we've not resolved everything yet.

"It's not that we're not putting in the effort, it's our attitude which was wrong. We need to have more hunger, like we showed in the second half when we played a decent game.

"We all have to play to win because if only one out of 11 has a winning mentality, you're not going to get results.

"We've lacked this in our last two games, but I don't want to make a drama out of it because we had two very good months before."

With nine games of the season remaining, Milan's hopes of returning to Europe next season may now depend on the Coppa Italia final.

They face Juventus in Rome on May 21 knowing that a win will see them through to the Europa League.

Abbiati has not given up on entering into the top five before then, though.

"We are Milan and we should never be settling for sixth," he said. "We have to aim to catch the teams in front of us.

"There are nine games left and the Coppa Italia final comes after those.

"We cannot pull the plug out -- we need to remain constant in every match, also because we wear shirts with great significance and importance."

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