Sarri opens fire on the referee of the Milan match: if I had said what Rabiot said, he would have sent me off!
Mauricio accuses Daniele Chiffi of double standards
Italian coach Maurizio Sarri, Atalanta's manager, launched a scathing attack on the referee of his side's clash with Milan, expressing his dissatisfaction with the officiating decisions and suggesting that some players receive different treatment when they direct abusive language at referees, in reference to Milan's French midfielder Adrien Rabiot.
Milan nearly threw away a three-goal lead at the San Siro on Sunday evening before surviving a late Atalanta fightback to edge it 3-2 in the seventh round of Serie A.
The win lifted Milan to 15 points and fourth in the table. Atalanta stayed frozen on nine, down in tenth.
Sarri told "Sky Sport Italia": "The first dangerous attack of the match was ours, through Krstovic, and then the refereeing decisions and the events started to go against us."
He added: "I think Kevin De Winter, the Milan defender, handled the ball after a cross from Jonathan Rui. I also discovered that there are players who can direct obscene language at referees, and I told the referee that."
The Atalanta manager continued: "The referee told me that Adrien Rabiot received a yellow card for what he said, but if I had been the one to say it, he would have sent me off."
That incident wasn't the end of it. Sarri also tore into the way referee Daniele Chiffi handled the match, insisting his frustration with the official's decisions is nothing new.
He explained: "I didn't like the referee's management of the match in general. I'm not here to get into an argument, but this happens every time I deal with Daniele Chiffi."
On the technical side, Sarri praised his players' reaction in the final minutes, pointing out that Atalanta could have come away with a better result despite trailing by three goals.
He said in this regard: "We had the chance to make it 3-3, and there was still a relatively long time left before the end of the match. Its course changed completely, and we were even capable of achieving a better result."
His parting words focused on the group: "We realise that we are becoming a more cohesive team. The substitutions played a major role in our comeback during the match, and it wasn't easy given the circumstances we were facing."
