Former goalkeeper Christian Abbiati paints a glum picture of Milan: 'It's become a whole other club'.
The 38-year-old retired at the end of last season after a long career, but his final days with the Rossoneri were not his most memorable.
“This squad was worth more than seventh place,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “With the right attitude, they could go for the Champions League qualification as early as next year.
Former goalkeeper Christian Abbiati paints a glum picture of Milan: 'It's become a whole other club'.
The 38-year-old retired at the end of last season after a long career, but his final days with the Rossoneri were not his most memorable.
“This squad was worth more than seventh place,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “With the right attitude, they could go for the Champions League qualification as early as next year.
“[Coach Cristian] Brocchi is right when he says that some players lack attitude. There were four-five individuals who didn't do what was asked of them.
“And I'm not talking about technical errors. If there's only one of them, you can isolate the player and control him. But five is a lot, and everything becomes a lot more complicated.
“If I close my eyes and think of Milan up until 2011, I see a different team in every sense. I'm thinking of the values that I've absorbed from people like [Demetrio] Albertini, [Alessandro] Costacurta and [Paolo] Maldini.
“Over my whole career I was only fined once, for falling asleep and coming late. This is not to say that we lived under a dictatorship or anything, but in training we all ran like lightning.
“If we suffer a bad defeat, I won't even consider the idea of showing myself at a club. It had come to the point that I woke up on Monday morning and felt anxious when I stepped out of my house.
“I was ashamed to walk the street for how poorly the team was doing, even though my conscience was clean.”
Abbiati could have been fielded at the end of the season against Roma, but he gave his place to Gianluigi Donnarumma on account of the importance of the match.
“It wasn't a problem. In truth I was already out of it and I had to be sincere about it with Brocchi, who is my best friend.
“But my decision also depended on next year's perspectives. I came from the top and didn't want to end my career at the absolute bottom. It was a matter of personal dignity and pride.
“I first considered retiring after my rant in mid-March, following the game against Chievo. The final straw was after Bologna, I'd really had enough.
“As a symbolic example, consider that when [striker Carlos] Bacca was subbed off against Carpi, he left the pitch without waiting for the end of the match and without acknowledging the player who replaced him.
“I gave him a piece of my mind in the changing room, but when I turned around, I saw that nobody was backing me. It seems that if you don't have certain values inside you, then you just can't be interested in them. Back in my days, [Gennaro] Gattuso would have shown daggers.”