AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli defended his players after their 3-2 Europa League playoff defeat at Rennes.

Milan reach the round of 16 5-3 on aggregate.

"We will all have our opinions coming back, but we have qualified. Getting through to the next round seemed easy in the first leg, it wasn't an easy affair, but we still have a lot of situations to evaluate," Pioli said.

“I think tonight's match confirmed that we have a lot of potential going forwards. But, we have to concede fewer chances against our opponents."

Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic struggled on the night.

He added, “We suffered with Pulisic and Leao. We have to be a team and I don't go about it thinking that we only have 11 players."