AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso defended his players in defeat to Sampdoria.

A Gianluigi Donnarumma howler in the opening 33 seconds proved decisive, as Gregoire Defrel pounced for the winning goal.

“We were very unlucky on the goal, then made too many simple mistakes, took too many touches, never able to play out from the back the way we wanted to," Gattuso told DAZN.

“Nonetheless, it was a decent performance. When Samp were pressing us, we just gave it away too often, allowing them time to get into shape.

“We were coming off another defeat to Inter, we lost today to an unlucky incident, but the team tried everything to get back into it. There are still many rounds to go and we shouldn't get downbeat."