Stefano Pioli warns Milan must get used to the difficulties of playing in the Europa League, but is reassured by the ‘character’ showed in a fightback to hold Verona 2-2.

It was a chaotic match at San Siro, just days after the Rossoneri’s first defeat since March, 3-0 to Lille in the Europa League.

Stefano Pioli warns Milan must get used to the difficulties of playing in the Europa League, but is reassured by the ‘character’ showed in a fightback to hold Verona 2-2.

It was a chaotic match at San Siro, just days after the Rossoneri’s first defeat since March, 3-0 to Lille in the Europa League.

“We knew that playing in the Europa League and straight after against opponents like Udinese and Verona takes a lot out of you,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.

“They can prepare all week for this match, whereas we have one mini-training session. We want to improve the position we had last season and go as far as possible in Europe.”

When Verona took a 2-0 lead, the fears were of a repeat, then Franck Kessie’s deflected effort got them back to 2-1 and Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed his third consecutive penalty.

However, Zlatan also got the equaliser in stoppages – after his handball had seen a Davide Calabria volley disallowed.

“Zlatan told me he was disappointed because we could’ve won the game, that he’ll leave the next penalty for Kessie and that he needs this break to rest. That’s true of everyone, really, but we fought to get into Europe and this is what it means.”

Both the Verona goals came after dead-ball situations and Pioli sees a problem.

“We conceded five goals between Roma and Verona from set plays and that means we need to be more focused. On the other hand, we had 25 shots on goal, created 10 chances, so the performance was there, and their goalkeeper denied us a win we may well have deserved.

“Verona deserve credit for their very intense, physical approach to the game, while we played the game we had to and that led to 20 shots on goal. We had the chances to win and it’s a pity we didn’t manage it.

“We were coming off our first defeat in many months and tonight almost immediately went 2-0 down. We reacted, we showed that we are a strong team and that we have character.

“The problem is, there are other strong teams in Italy and Europe, such as Juventus, Inter and Napoli, while there’s a real fight with many others such as Lazio, Roma and even Sassuolo. I have some strong lads, but we are the youngest team in the league and that doesn’t stop us being mature lads too.”

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