FOOTBALL
'We're not in church', says Milan's Conceicao after Calabria confrontation
Sergio Conceicao blamed his heated clash with AC Milan captain Davide Calabria on adrenaline and passion as the Rossoneri left it late to beat Parma 3-2 on Sunday.
Christian Pulisic's penalty cancelled out Matteo Cancellieri's opener in the first half, only for Parma to retake the lead in the 80th minute through Enrico Delprato.
But goals in second-half stoppage time from Tijjani Reijnders and Samuel Chukwueze moved Milan up to sixth in the Serie A standings after 21 games of their season.
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In fact, for the first time in Serie A history, Milan won a match by coming back from behind, scoring two goals from the 90th minute onwards at the San Siro.
However, in the midst of their celebrations for Chukwueze's winner, Conceicao and Calabria needed to be separated by team-mates and staff on the touchline.
Calabria had been replaced in the 77th minute by Luka Jovic in an attacking change for the hosts, which eventually proved pivotal in deciding the contest.
Conceicao was clearly upset at something in the exchange and tried to approach his captain to resolve the issue, but was held back before the situation escalated.
"I live the matches and in terms of how I live them and how I feel about them, there is a lot of passion and desire to win," Conceicao said.
"In the end, there was a little extra adrenaline. I was talking about a game situation with Davide and, in my opinion, there was one too many words spoken.
"The players know that they are all important to me, like a family. If I'm at a restaurant and my son does something I don't like, I'll tell him, there's no hypocrisy.
"It wasn't nice to see, but in football it's okay. We are not in church."
It has been a difficult season for 28-year-old Calabria, having started just four games in Serie A this term after missing five matches earlier in the campaign through injury.
He has also lost the captaincy to goalkeeper Mike Maignan, with Emerson Royal often preferred in the right-back position. Milan also welcomed Manchester City defender Kyle Walker on loan for the rest of the season earlier this week, giving Calabria even more competition.
Against Parma, however, Calabria made more clearances (eight) than any of his team-mates, while only Strahinja Pavlovic (11) won more duels than the Italian (five).
"It is not a positive year like others have been," Calabria told broadcaster DAZN.
"There are situations that are not simple, even private and personal ones that nobody is aware of. I don't even want to talk about it too much.
"I want to end this season in the best possible way for the good of the team, which is the thing I care about the most, even more than myself sometimes.
"Honestly, I'm thinking about staying focused on that, having grown up with this shirt. Then there are situations like today that can happen, but they are part of the journey."
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