Milan boss backs Montella

Milan, Oct. 16: AC Milan chief Marco Fassone has backed under-fire coach Vincenzo Montella despite the club falling to a third straight Serie ‘A’ defeat to fierce city rivals Inter on Sunday night.

“Vincenzo is staying with us. When you change this much, as we did, you need time,” said Fassone.

Milan overhauled their squad in the close season, spending 230 million euros ($270 million) on new signings following the takeover of the club by Chinese businessman Li Yonghong.

He already paid 740 million euros to buy the club last April.

But despite the heavy investment, Milan have failed to find their rhythm on the pitch yet, with Montella’s side dropping three places to tenth after their latest defeat — 12 points behind leaders Napoli and ten adrift of second-placed Inter.

“AC Milan should not be in that position and we have to climb back,” insisted Fassone, appointed managing director after Li’s Rossoneri Sport Investment bought the club from former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

“We are starting to see the first positive signs, but Montella will still have time to continue his work. Things will change eventually,” Fassone added.

Mauro Icardi converted a late penalty to complete a hat-trick that gave Inter a 3-2 win in front of a capacity crowd of 80,000 at the San Siro.

The gate receipts for Sunday’s derby clash hit a new Italian football record of 4.8 million euros ($5.6m) — over a million euros more than the previous record set when Inter met Juventus in 2015.

“Derbies are always incredible matches, this time we made a mistake at the end, said Fassone.