Ruben Amorim praised his AC Milan side for what was seen during the first two-thirds of the game against Atalanta, before a worrying drop-off.

Things were looking brilliant for Milan on the hour mark. A Goncalo Ramos penalty, an Adrien Rabiot strike and a Mario Gila header had them three goals up against Atalanta, with Maurizio Sarri’s men looking way off the pace.

Yet, the final minutes of the match at San Siro ended up being played out in very nervy circumstances. Gianluca Gaetano got La Dea back into it, then Nikola Krstovic fired in to make it a one-goal game in the 81st minute. Thankfully the Rossoneri hung on, but there were further late scares.

‘The momentum of the game changed completely’

Amorim spoke to Sky after the full-time whistle to dissect what was a strange night for his team, one that demonstrated the best and worst that they are capable of. His words are via MilanNews.

Are you happier with the three points or more angry with the ending?

“I think the result is the most important thing at the end of the match, but we have to analyse the performance: with this schedule and considering that we almost scored the fourth goal in the match. Even the fans started to sense this nervousness after the 3-1.

“I think in some ways we deserved to come out of this match with this state of mind for the last 25 minutes. So, considering the ninety minutes, we played well for the first 65, 66 minutes and then not so well.”

Why were Milan so distracted at the end?

“I don’t know exactly what the word ‘distracted’ means or implies. We were a little tired, perhaps Atalanta too, because they also played midweek. Let’s just say the momentum of the game changed completely after the 3-1: we stopped pressing, and the nerves started to creep in.

“It can happen in football. We need to be more consistent in terms of performances, results, and, even if we have to suffer, suffer less.”

Could the two goals have been avoided?

“We definitely could have avoided both goals, controlled the penalty area and their transitions: at times we didn’t follow their runs. But we’re playing well, I don’t want to focus only on the final part of the match.

“Of course, at 3-0 we can defend not so high up the pitch. Sometimes it’s a bit of a gamble, we wanted to try to get a fourth because in some ways we knew that if we’d conceded 3-1 we could have struggled towards the end.

“We have to do better: even the second goal against Benfica was similar to the first goal tonight, so there’s something we need to manage better. The defenders were there, but we need to better monitor the movement of the opposing midfielder who gets in.”

How do you think Moreira did in the defensive phase?

“I think we played well for 60 minutes, we defended well. As for Moreira, you saw him in the match: he tried to skip past the opposing defender in one-on-one situations, but now in this match he followed the penetrations of their winger, given that the opponent was very strong and fast.

“That was the idea. Then we still had problems in the last 25 minutes because we had little possession, with the two forwards putting the ball on the field.

“I think Moreira played well until the 66th minute, when then the whole team stopped playing well and everyone more or less lowered the quality level in all their plays.”

Was this the best Milan of the season in the first 66 minutes?

“I would say yes, we showed ourselves to be more complete. We created chances, we controlled the ball well, we controlled their transitions, we controlled them well in man-to-man situations, in one-on-one situations.

“And then after that 66th minute, we started to feel a bit tired, we lost confidence, so definitely a general decline.”