Milan coach Conceicao's heated exchange with Davide Calabria

Milan's Portuguese coach Sergio Conceiçao and his team's defender Davide Calabria had a heated exchange on Sunday on the San Siro pitch after the Milan team's 3-2 comeback against Parma and several players had to intervene to separate them.

Just after the end of the match, with the adrenaline of the comeback in added time with goals from Dutchman Tijjani Reijnders and Nigerian Samu Chukwueze, Conceicao went straight to Calabria to reproach him for something that had happened when the winger was on the bench for the last few minutes after being replaced by Serbian Luka Jovic.

Calabria responded in anger and the two came close to coming to blows, but the rest of the Milan team intervened to calm the situation. Even as they were being led away, they reproached each other.

The relationship between the two is also conditioned by the coach's decision to take the captain's armband from him and give it to French goalkeeper Mike Maignan. On Sunday, both started the match and Maignan wore the armband, confirming the coach's decision.

In addition, Calabria has seen Milan sign Brazilian Emerson Royal this summer and now, in the winter market, Englishman Kyle Walker to reinforce his position, in which he has lost his starting place.

Both explained after the match what happened. “It's on-field stuff, a misunderstanding, we cared about this match. The adrenaline was pretty high and afterwards we have sorted things out. It won't be the first or the last time you see something like this on the field . Something common in football. I apologise because it's not a nice thing to see. The most important thing is the team and to have turned the game around,” Calabria told ‘DAZN’.

“I'm nervous every day. Sometimes with this adrenaline you live this sport with passion. These are things that do me good, it was a match situation and nothing more. Just like it happens with children when we go to a restaurant and there is inappropriate behavior, we have to say something. That's the way I am, direct. Maybe we said one word too many, but it's not a problem”, Conceicao pointed out at a press conference.

 

January 26, 2025