It’s a matter of mentality. Adrien Rabiot is furious: first with the referee, then with everyone. The yellow card comes for protesting, not for a bad foul: Adrien complains because Chiffi (in his opinion) is refereeing in a way that protects the opponents, who are often aggressive.
The booking does not calm him down, and shortly afterwards Rabiot approaches the referee again in a threatening manner, forcing his teammates to coordinate their pressing on their own teammate: his friend Moreira takes him by the hand and leads him away, Modric urges him to calm down, and Amorim, from the bench, puts his index fingers to his temples, telling him to "use your head."
Shortly afterwards comes Milan’s second goal, scored by whom? The usual Adrien, now the team’s second-highest scorer behind Cisse: four goals (and just as many assists) to five. Rabiot celebrates towards the Milan fans, although first, and on a couple of occasions, he turns his head towards Chiffi. You book me? And I score.
“I needed a bit of anger, that kind of ‘stuff’ to fire me up. The referee didn’t show a yellow card for three or four blatant fouls against us: we get angry because we try to play and there are wrong decisions. But then I have to keep a cool head, not get angry and argue. But we are human.”
Rabiot's anger
Rabiot’s goal to double the lead, with the midfielder playing further forward in the attacking midfield area yesterday ("I like it"), brings to a close a first half of absolute dominance and foreshadows Gila’s third goal, as relayed via La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Here, however, also begins the decline that almost allows the Nerazzurri to equalise. And so Adrien appears frustrated when speaking to Sky:
“We did very well at the beginning. Strangely, in the last half-hour we lost control of the match, and that is a problem. With a second half like that, the first half, which I repeat was played very well, counts for nothing. Fortunately, we won, but I don’t know if we deserved it that much.
“That’s why I’m a little angry. We won and we needed the three points, but we cannot collapse like that. It’s not good. We have to find the right balance: it’s not a physical issue but a mental one. We let our concentration drop. We have to improve our mentality. Even those who come on as substitutes have to give more.”
Amorim puts an end to the matter, referring back to the gesture with his fingers at his temples:
“Rabiot is very emotional, and I really like emotional players a lot. He said similar things with the national team too.”
