Gennaro Gattuso explained Gonzalo Higuain’s back problem and the dramatic last-gasp win in Udine. “We suffered, but deserved the victory.”

Alessio Romagnoli won back possession, combined with Suso and fired in the only goal at the Dacia Arena after 96 minutes of tense football.

“We suffered, we arrived with many injuries, but I think we deserved the victory,” the Coach told Sky Sport Italia.

Gennaro Gattuso explained Gonzalo Higuain’s back problem and the dramatic last-gasp win in Udine. “We suffered, but deserved the victory.”

Alessio Romagnoli won back possession, combined with Suso and fired in the only goal at the Dacia Arena after 96 minutes of tense football.

“We suffered, we arrived with many injuries, but I think we deserved the victory,” the Coach told Sky Sport Italia.

Udinese are a very physical side, aggressive and dangerous on set plays too. I liked our performance and attitude a great deal, so now we hope to get Pipita, Calabria, Calhanoglu and Bonaventura back soon.

“Higuain felt a twinge in his back. He had problems there before and surgery seven or eight years ago, but it doesn’t seem to be anything serious. I hope it’s not serious.”

Gattuso was sent off from the touchline after that dramatic goal, the linesman raising his flag and VAR check to confirm it was not offside.

“I just went to the linesman, who had raised his flag. I left my technical area and that’s fair to send me off for that.”

This was Milan’s third consecutive Serie A victory after dramatic results against Sampdoria, Genoa and Udinese.

“We have to look forward. We weren’t useless before and we’re not suddenly world-beaters now. We have to fight it out, pick up points wherever we can. The victories do help us feel like the ball isn’t 100kg and our shoulders aren’t drooping under the weight of the pressure.

“We’ve got to prepare now for Betis, because we know that when they pass it around, that causes us problems. The defensive line moved well today, but also Bakayoko and Kessie provided protection and when they pushed forward, they didn’t leave a gap behind them.

“We knew that we’d have to win a few duels. Having Bakayoko there with his physicality gives us another alternative with long balls to be knocked down.

“I think Castillejo needs to have a little more determination and fire when he gets into scoring positions, because he acts like he isn’t accustomed to being there.

“When I met Suso almost a year ago, it seemed impossible to put him in a more central role. Yet today he played 20-25 minutes as a second striker and I moved Castillejo into his usual role.

“It would’ve been easy to look for alibis with all these injuries, as people can start putting the blame on fitness coaches or the medical staff, but we stayed quiet, worked hard and all took on our share of the responsibility.”

Gattuso was asked how he felt in stoppages when Suso and Romagnoli kept passing it back and forth with nobody taking the shot.

“I can’t say. I can’t say…”

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