Ignazio Abate believes that Milan’s inexperience saw their style of play go out of the window against Barcelona on Tuesday.
The Rossoneri were hit for four goals at the Camp Nou to leave the Champions League Last 16 with a 4-2 aggregate defeat.
“We weren’t very proactive, we played a lot of long balls rather than playing the ball on the ground,” Sky Sport Italia quote Abate as saying afterwards.
“We gifted the first half to our opponents, even if Lionel Messi invented those two fine goals. We were never in the match and we can’t afford to gift 45 minutes of a game to a team like Barcelona.
“We improved a little in the second half, going close to scoring, but you need experience to play at places like the Camp Nou – and that is not a criticism of my younger teammates.”
