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• Fonseca fumes at penalty 'circus' from referee as AC Milan beaten at Fiorentina

  AC Milan boss Paulo Fonseca was in an angry mood following his side's 2-1 loss away to Fiorentina on Sunday, suggesting the decisions to give three penalties turned the game into a 'circus'.

  Remarkably, all three spot-kicks were saved during the match. The home side initially saw Moise Kean's penalty kept out by Mike Maignan, while David de Gea then saved from Theo Hernandez - who was later sent off - and Tammy Abraham either side of half-time.

  But after the game, Fonseca's attention was on the performance of the officials rather than the goalkeeping.

  "I don’t like to talk about refereeing but this isn’t football. Football is about contact and a mere touch shouldn’t be enough to award a penalty," he told DAZN.

  "Just a simple touch can lead to a penalty, we saw that this weekend as well. It makes everyone nervous, and that creates problems. This is football, not a circus."

  Interestingly, neither Hernandez nor Abraham is Milan's designated penalty taker despite them taking the responsibility on Sunday.

  "Our penalty taker is [Christian] Pulisic. I don't know why the players changed their minds, I spoke to him and said that it must not happen again," said Fonseca.

  Pulisic did score Milan's only goal of the night, having equalised after an hour, before Albert Gudmondsson scored the winner for the hosts.

  The United States international was visibly angry when brought off for Samuel Chukwueze with seven minutes to go after putting in a bright performance, but the Milan manager explained that he did not want to aggravate an injury.

  "It was out of caution for Pulisic, he had a problem with his flexor during the week. Chukwueze came in well and created opportunities," said Fonseca.

  In terms of his side's overall performance, Fonseca did not want to focus on their penalty problems and instead suggested they did not do enough to get anything from the match.

  "In the first half, we lacked defensive aggression and strength in duels. The way we conceded goals clearly illustrates this; they almost always won the second balls," he said. "We weren't disciplined in our structure."

  The defeat ended a run of three straight league victories for Milan, meaning they go into the international break sixth in the table and on the back of a defeat.

  Despite that, and the gap to league leaders Napoli extending to six points, he was not panicking.

  "In Italy when you win, you’ve played a great match. If we don’t score, we’re the worst team in the world, just as I’m the worst coach. I know how things are," he said.

  Fonseca's assessment of the performance was mirrored by defender Matteo Gabbia, who was unhappy with how the game went.

  "We are certainly not satisfied with the initial approach. We feel this defeat, as it was our fault and we did not do our best tonight," he said.

  "It starts with us, I saw the right disappointment and anger in the dressing room and it can be the only positive from this very negative night. We are angry that we put in this performance."

• Fiorentina 2-1 Milan: Gudmundsson seals win after De Gea penalty heroics

  David de Gea saved two penalties for Fiorentina, setting the stage for Albert Gudmundsson to score the winner in a 2-1 victory over Milan. 

  In a pulsating encounter that saw three missed penalties and two red cards, Fiorentina prevailed to halt Paulo Fonseca's Serie A winning run.

  The hosts had the first spot-kick of the game, with Moise Kean's tame effort being kept out by Mike Maignan before the forward had a goal disallowed for offside.

  Former Milan midfielder Yacine Adli did break the deadlock soon after, ricocheting a low shot in off the far post from the edge of the box, and De Gea kept them ahead at the break, superbly denying Theo Hernandez from the spot. 

  Kean had a second goal chalked off for offside in the second half and Milan wasted another golden opportunity from 12 yards, as De Gea got down well to keep out Tammy Abraham this time. 

  On the hour mark, an in-form Christian Pulisic finally pulled the visitors level with a perfect volley, but the drama was far from over as Gudmundsson drilled his low shot past Maignan to put Fiorentina back in front in the 73rd minute.

  Emotions ran high in the final moments as Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino was sent off, while Hernandez also received his marching orders for arguing with the referee after the final whistle had gone.

  Data Debrief: De Gea's penalty redemption

  For all the plaudits De Gea received while at Manchester United, one blip on his record was his struggles against penalties.

  However, with his impressive showing against Milan, he became the first goalkeeper to make two penalty saves in a single Serie A match since Federico Marchetti in May 2016.

  Since his debut in the top five European leagues (2009-10), the Spaniard has saved 10 of his 52 penalties in the league, including each of the last three, having also saved one against Fulham in May 2023.

• Motta bemoans profligate Juve showing after Cagliari snatch draw

  Thiago Motta was left frustrated with Juventus' inability to make their dominance count after Razvan Marin's late equaliser snatched a 1-1 draw for Serie A strugglers Cagliari.

  Dusan Vlahovic's early penalty gave Juve the lead but Marin's 88th-minute spot-kick cost the hosts two important points that would have moved them to within one of leaders Napoli.

  Marin's late salvaging act was the first goal Juventus have conceded this season in the league, though their inability to build on the early strike was what head coach Motta bemoaned after Sunday's draw.

  "Already in the first half, after the goal, we were content to control the game. It's no good," Motta told DAZN.

  "We have to keep attacking. In the second half, we created chances but we didn't exploit them. There was always the feeling that Cagliari could come back into the game.

  "In Serie A, all games are complicated, regardless of who we face and whether we play at home or away. Today we left room for Cagliari to get back into the game."

  Vlahovic may have converted the penalty but was also guilty of missing an excellent chance to extend Juve's lead when he fired wide on the rebound from close range.

  Motta's side accumulated a tally of 2.57 expected goals (xG) overall, compared to Cagliari's 1.12, suggesting three points should have ended in the hands of the profligate Juve.

  The Italian head coach refused to point the finger at Vlahovic, though insisted improvements are needed.

  "You can't say anything, it's a match situation. It happens and will happen," Motta said. "But there are other things that we can certainly do better in order to compete, to be able to continue to grow."

  Francisco Conceicao made his first start of the season against Cagliari, but the Portugal winger was sent off late in the game when he received a second booking for simulation in the penalty area.

  "I haven't seen the images, if it's simulation, it's the correct decision. It's something we've been talking about for a long time, simulations are not good for the game," Motta added in his press conference.

  "I trust the referee, but now a precedent opens up and it must always be like this. It must always be done, not every now and then."