GdS: The concert and the bottle kick – what led to the Conceicao-Calabria spat | OneFootball

Almost everyone is asking the same question after AC Milan’s win over Parma: why was Sergio Conceicao so angry with Davide Calabria.

La Gazzetta dello Sport publish a report which begins by talking about ‘the concert, the bottle, the warning’. Conceiçao’s afternoon was much more hectic than expected and maintains a sensational trend: he’s been at Milan for less than a month and to everyone it seems like a year.

Everything has happened to him and he has made everything happen: noble victories and defeats without a fight, arguments with the players, a trophy, battles of principle won and others still to fight. He has made a big impact, that’s for sure, and has changed the atmosphere at Milan.

The scene at the end of the match against Parma was ugly, however, not worth of a Milan coach in the eyes of Fabio Capello. Conceiçao had the wisdom to admit it publicly, but what was behind it?

On the eve of a very important week – with direct qualification for the Champions League round of 16 at stake in Zagreb, and the derby on Sunday – we can zoom in something and it related to an event on Friday night.

Conceicao not appreciate that some players went to Lazza’s concert two days before the game, and he made it clear to the players. A photo from that evening shows Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Theo Hernandez, Francesco Camarda and Calabria with the rapper Lazza, a lifelong Milan fan.

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According to Conceiçao’s unwritten principles, it could have been avoided, even if Milan were aware of the players’ presence at the concert. Similarly, the Portuguese did not take Calabria’s reaction to the substitution well: he threw a bottle away, picked up by the coach, and punched the bench a few times.

So, it was a case whereby the ex-Porto boss didn’t seem to like the decision to go to a concert on Friday night, and this was then brought to boiling point when Calabria behaved in a further unprofessional manner after coming off.

In terms of seeing what it means for his selection, Calabria will be suspended against Dinamo Zagreb and that means Conceicao doesn’t have a difficult call to make.

On the flip side, Emerson Royal is injured and Kyle Walker is not eligible yet, so the favourite to play is Filippo Terracciano, with Yunus Musah and Fikayo Tomori as alternatives.