Leonardo praises Milan as Ranieri blasts referee

Under fire AC Milan coach Leonardo praised his team’s spirit after a come-from-behind 2-1 win over AS Roma at the San Siro ended their worrying sequence of results.

Milan are now up to eighth in Serie A and only seven points behind leaders and city rivals Inter Milan following their third win in eight league encounters.

It was only the third time this season in 10 matches that they had scored more than a single goal. And that despite being outclassed in a first half that could easily have seen Roma disappear over the hill.

“This win is worth a lot more than three points,” enthused Leonardo. “The most important thing is the incredible spirit of this team which found the will to leave everything on the field in a difficult moment.”

Jermey Menez gave Roma the lead after just three minutes after a terrible blunder from Milan centre-back Thiago Silva.

Menez twice more got in behind the Milan backline in the first 20 minutes as Roma threatened to run riot.

“Everything could have become gloomy but instead we showed desire and humility, we can push on from here,” added Leonardo.

Milan were in desperate need of this win as they came into the match in 14th position and with the second worst attack in the league, as well as having lost at home to minnows FC Zurich in the Champions League.

Roma too were in need of a win to boost their now significantly diminished title hopes.

Their coach Claudio Ranieri was upset with his own team but was furious with referee Roberto Rosetti over a controversial penalty that allowed Milan to draw level through Ronaldinho before Pato’s 67th minute winner.

“I’m bitter that we lost a match that was in our hands,” he said before attacking Rosetti.

“It’s shameful, everyone saw it and it was so clear that I need not say anything.

“The lads remember well when two years ago they lost the title to Inter Milan and that was refereed by Rosetti and they said beforehand they knew how this would finish.

“If (referee’s chief Pierluigi) Collina is happy with Rosetti then that’s fine for everyone but this time I don’t think he was at his best.

“It’s strange that the referee was deceived when Milan had the ball in the area and not when we did in the first half.”

Roma could have had a penalty when Silva pulled at Menez in the first half but the French winger battled on and got his shot away.

Rosetti did point to the spot, though, after Nicolas Burdisso appeared to win the ball in a challenge with Alessandro Nesta, although the Argentine centre-back did dive in a little over-zealously.