Pisa manager believes they ‘played a perfect game’ against Milan despite defeat

Pisa manager Oscar Hljemark believes his side played a perfect game tactically against Milan, despite coming away with zero points in the end. 

After the 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture, Milan headed into the game with a lust for revenge. While it was far from brilliant, they controlled the first half and also got the opening goal, at which point it looked like it would be a comfortable evening.

However, after a missed penalty, Pisa got back into the game and found the equaliser. A late goal from Luka Modric was needed to clinch all three points, with Milan making it much more difficult than they needed to.

Pisa manager Hiljemark, who was recently appointed, was happy with his team’s performance despite the defeat as they played a perfect game tactically. While they did do some things well, it’s also true that Milan didn’t play as well as they could have.

How much disappointment is there?

“It’s difficult, but I think we need to improve on the little things. I also need to look at the team’s attitude, and tactically we played a perfect match.  We made three mistakes, conceding a penalty and the two goals, but that’s the consequence against big teams. There are so many positives, and we need to continue building on this.”

On the substitutions that changed the momentum…

“Until the 80th minute, the game was ours. We played well, which is why I didn’t want to make any changes, also because you risk losing your rhythm. That’s why.”