Allegri turns attention to top four battle after Supercoppa exit
AC Milan were dumped out of the Supercoppa Italiana by Napoli, though Massimiliano Allegri was keen to get back to Serie A action.
Massimiliano Allegri called for calm among AC Milan supporters, insisting that his team must remain focused on their primary objective of finishing in the top four of Serie A.
Allegri's comments came after Milan were dumped out of the Supercoppa Italiana semi-finals on Thursday, with the Rossoneri falling to a 2-0 defeat to Napoli at Al-Awwal Park.
David Neres put Antonio Conte's team ahead six minutes before the break before Rasmus Højlund put the result beyond doubt with a fine finish shortly after the hour mark.
Indeed, Milan have now fallen behind in each of their last four official matches after having gone behind only twice in their first 15 games of this season across all competitions.
But Allegri and his team will now return to Italy and prepare for their final game of 2025 against Hellas Verona on December 28, hoping to maintain their solid start to the league.
Milan are second in the Serie A standings and just a point behind leaders and rivals Inter, who take on Bologna in the other Supercoppa Italiana semi-final on Friday.
Asked whether Milan could switch back to a back four, Allegri urged patience, while also outlining his team's ambitions for the remainder of the season.
"One match can't overturn three months of work," Allegri told reporters in his post-match press conference.
"We need to analyse things with serenity. Only calm can help us achieve our objective, which is finishing in the top four."
The Opta supercomputer predicts Milan to finish in the Serie A top four in 83.4% of its season simulations, with a 16.6% chance of missing out on the Champions League places.
Milan had their chances in the contest, registering an expected goals (xG) total of 1.28 from their 14 shots, though only three forced Vanja Milinkovic-Savic into action.
But Allegri was disappointed about the ease with which Napoli scored their goals, with Neres allowed a simple tap-in after Mike Maignan did not deal with Hojlund's cross.
Koni De Winter then struggled with the pace and physicality of Hojlund as the Dane smashed home Milan's second, with Allegri conceding Napoli were the better team on the day.
"We faced a strong Napoli, and we knew that," the Milan boss added. "We could have done better on the two goals.
"It was a well-played match by both teams, but they defended better and deserved to win.
"We had favourable moments and managed the ball quite well. We needed to attack the box better. If you make mistakes like we did for the first goal, you must defend better.
"When you concede two goals in three consecutive matches that could have been avoided, you have to understand how to do better."
The result also saw Milan suffer a defeat without scoring and conceding at least two goals in all competitions for the first time since a 2-0 defeat to Juventus back in January.
