AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli insists defeat to Atalanta was undeserved.

Milan lost 3-2 on Saturday with captain Davide Calabria being sent off.

"When it was 11 against 11, it felt like the inertia was going our way, as we twice got back on level terms. Going down to 10 men will cause you problems, but we also should've been sharper with our defending and decisions. We lost the ball cheaply, didn't chase him down and you pay for those mistakes," Pioli told DAZN.

“When you concede three goals, it means you did not work well defensively as a team. There were some positions we were prepared for, but we weren't sharp enough to stop those runs and even throw-ins.

“We played with intensity, energy and a certain amount of quality. It was a game we should at least have taken a point from.

“There are absences, but we played the game, especially in the first half where I felt we were better than Atalanta, but didn't take our chances. We were naïve after the break and you pay for those errors at this level, we absolutely must improve these for the following matches.

“If I had ended 2-2, I would've seen many positives from this performance, but we wanted to give a sense of consistency to our results. We need to reflect profoundly on this, because we were in the game, but our opponents did better in the penalty areas. It is not the result we wanted."