Allegri demands Milan 'learn to defend better'

Massimiliano Allegri, Milan coach
My players did quite well tonight. We conceded a goal we shouldn't have conceded; it was the only chance they had in the first half. We also had our chances and we're sorry that we lost but I cannot complain about my players. Maybe in the last five or ten minutes we gave up, but that's OK. The defenders I chose for this game did well, even if they're not used to playing such games.

They were more motivated than us, we were not focused enough and we showed it when we conceded that goal. In the first half we played better, especially with our full-backs, then they scored so it was difficult for us.

The team changed a lot during the summer and we must learn to defend better. We should stop conceding so many goals. We must play with more anger, sometimes we make life easy for our opponents, and if you look at the goals we concede you can see that.

Luciano Spalletti, Zenit coach
I want to congratulate our guys because they played great. It was a very difficult match because of all the tension as so much was at stake. The opposition were also of high quality. I'm glad we made it to the Europa League. It was a burden for us not to have won away from home in the Champions League [for such a long time] despite good displays like the one at Shakhtar Donetsk [last season]. We have broken that duck in a very difficult place.

However, we shouldn't hide the fact we have had a bad campaign. We obviously need to perform better. Even today we should have scored a second goal, but failed to do so. But I'm still happy to continue, because playing in Europe is a fundamental thing for Zenit.