AC Milan boss Sergio Conceicao has threatened to quit the Italian club in a furious outburst after their latest defeat.
Conceicao, 50, only arrived at the San Siro on December 30 having replaced the sacked Paulo Fonseca. However, since his arrival at the club, the Portuguese coach has won eight and lost five of his 16 games in charge.
Although the Portuguese led Milan to Italian Supercup glory, it has been a difficult season for Milan as they sit eighth in Serie A, while they were also knocked out of the Champions League by Feyenoord in the play-off round last week.
That European exit was followed by back-to-back defeats by Torino and Bologna in the league to leave them eight points adrift of the top four.
Following the 2-1 reverse by Bologna on Thursday, Conceicao showed signs that the pressure was getting to him as he launched a furious defence of his credentials.
Sergio Conceicao, Head Coach of AC Milan, shouts from the touchline. (Photo by Oliver Hardt – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
‘Every day, people talk about my situation and it’s not fair,’ he said. ‘I know what I want, I know what I can do, I see a lot of people talking about me but the situation is simple.
‘If I have to leave, they tell me “you’re no longer needed”, I take my suitcase and leave without asking for a single Euro more.
‘I don’t come from nowhere. I have almost 100 games in the Champions League, I have won 13 trophies, but every day, they like to talk about me.
‘Coaches criticise me on match day. I have a family, I have people close to me and they see a lot of bad things about me and it’s not fair. Sorry for the outburst.’
Rafael Leao had put Conceicao’s side 1-0 up on the night, before Santiago Castro equalised. Switzerland star Dan Ndoye then scored an 82nd minute winner to strike a brutal blow into Milan’s European hopes.
Despite his side giving up the lead to lose, Conceicao was left fuming by the performance of referee Maurizio Mariani.
‘There was a blatant handball in the first goal,’ he fumed. ‘All the incidents that are negative for us become decisive for the result.
‘We have to keep working, see what we did well. There are also our mistakes, obviously.
‘In general, we are connected to the game, we know where to attack and press.
‘When we are in the game and we do what we prepare, we create and arrive at the last 30 metres with ease and quality, but then incidents happen, sometimes through our fault and sometimes through the fault of others.’
Milan return to action on Sunday when they face a crunch game against Lazio, who currently sit fifth, before they take on Leece, Como and Napoli over the next few weeks.
