Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 7y

Torino's Sinisa Mihajlovic 'furious and disappointed with ridiculous result'

Torino coach Sinisa Mihajlovic said his players were going to send him to the psychologist after they threw away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with AC Milan, prompting the Serbian coach to destroy an advertising board as he left the field at the final whistle.

The Granata led 1-0 before going down 2-1 to Milan in the Coppa Italia last week and Mihajlovic already warned his players then not to lose concentration when they are ahead, but worse happened on Monday night when they not only threw away a two-goal lead to be held, but also missed a penalty when 2-0 up which could have put the Serie A fixture beyond the Rossoneri.

"The way things are going, it's I who am going to need a psychologist and not they," the Serbian coach said at the postmatch press conference. "I'm not angry, I'm furious and disappointed because this is a ridiculous result.

"We were winning and, once again, we have suddenly decided to stop playing the way we can. I've not slept for two nights thinking about how I can resolve my team's problems and I'm not going to sleep for the next two either.

"Clearly we just do not know how to manage certain situations and we have a psychological problem because we're making the same mistakes over and over again."

La Gazzetta dello Sport published a video of Mihajlovic punching the backdrop used for pitchside interviews as he left the field, and he was still struggling to control his rage when he faced the media.

Talk of Torino still having the chance to qualify for Europe set his pulse racing again.

"I don't want to hear that word again," he said. "We've lost so many points and you don't go anywhere like this. I've not succeeded in getting this Torino side to take the next step psychologically, but I'm not going to quit and nobody is giving up.

"The club knows full well what the strengths and weaknesses of this team are. We need to win games and ask the club to provide us something from the transfer market because we're lacking players, and you don't need to be a nuclear physicist to understand who we need."

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