'We encourage the players' - Pioli angry with officiating after loss to Milan

"I told him what I thought, that in my opinion it wasn't a penalty and that these situations aren't good. So we encourage the players to throw their hands in their faces and fall to the ground. Even outside the penalty area. Hands in their faces and the whistle always blows."

"But the fact remains that we're last and we've lost again. We have to try to do better. We did what we had to, suffering when we had to. Incidents continue to punish us. Even with the first goal, we weren't lucky, we were down to 10 men, and it disunited us. We have to do better."

"We have to be realistic. We're last and we have to be worried. But despite all the beatings we're taking, I see a group that believes in us and I'm sure we'll get through this. It will take longer than we thought, but we'll get through this with confidence."

Fiorentina lost 2-1 to AC Milan after Rafael Leao scored a curling equaliser and a late, controversial penalty to complete the comeback. Robin Gosens opened the scoring from close range after a dull first half. Pioli criticized the refereeing, saying the penalty was not justified and accusing players of exaggerating contact by throwing hands to faces to win whistles. Pioli stated incidents continue to punish the team, noted Fiorentina were reduced to ten men after the first goal, and warned the club remains in the bottom three. Pioli expressed belief the group will recover, though it may take longer.

Read at SempreMilan