Allegri happy with a point at frustrated Ajax

Frank de Boer, Ajax coach
We did quite well, but it's a bit disappointing that we came out of the dressing room and started the second half a bit poorly. There were moments, including in the second period, when we found players with a good pass. But then you have to control the ball and accelerate and sometimes that didn't happen. Milan's main threat was from their roaming strikers. They might look like they're in the lines on paper but they come inside a lot.

Lerin Duarte was doing well in the match but had to be substituted [on 59 minutes], then two minutes later Poulsen came to tell me he was feeling cramp. So it was an unlucky moment – I wanted to take Poulsen off but I couldn't. It's very sad that both guys [Duarte and Niklas Moisander] who were doing well in the match had to be substituted with knocks.

Massimiliano Allegri, Milan coach
We knew it would be difficult against a side who play at a really high tempo. We tried to slow the game down a bit and we defended well in the first 45 minutes. In the second half Ajax could not maintain the same level of performance, we started to play better and should have won the game. Unfortunately, we conceded a cheap goal from a corner and now we must feel satisfied with the draw.

[Mario] Balotelli played well, he went close to scoring the opener when he hit the bar with a great shot. He is a very important player for us. We have played several games in succession with the same players because we have many on the sidelines. The team did what I asked in the first half. We tried to control them when they were running at us and then strike in the second half when Ajax were tired. Unfortunately we made a mistake in our marking on that corner and we conceded in our best period of the game.