Mihajlovic fumes over players dragging their heals
MILAN (Reuters) - AC Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic angrily accused some of his players of easing off towards the end of Sunday's 2-1 win against Genoa in Serie A.
"If a player doesn't keep running until the 94th minute, I'm not going to put him on the pitch again," the fiery Mihajlovic told Mediaset Premium. "I don't need to give names, they know who I'm referring to.”
But the Serb refused to comment on a suggestion that he was referring to striker Mario Balotelli.
"I didn't say it was him," he said. "I'm talking about two or three players and they know who they are. That's enough, let's have another question."
Milan, sixth in Serie A and challenging for a Champions League place next season, appeared to be coasting until Alessio Cerci pulled one back in stoppage time and they had to hold on grimly for a win.
"We should have scored the third goal with the chances we had, but then we conceded one and risked giving the win away," said Mihajlovic.
Balotelli, who is still not match fit after missing three months of the season with a groin injury, came off in the 88th minute and appeared to be limping at the end of the game.
However, Mihajlovic later said in the post-match news conference that it was nothing serious.
"Balotelli took a knock, he was limping a bit, but it’s just a knock," he said.
(Writing by Brian Homewood, editing by Pritha Sarkar)