“It was not our intention to control the game, that is not the input I give to my players. I had to replace Giovinco as he had a muscular problem, whileOsvaldo was dead by that stage. I absolutely do not tell my players to control a 1-0 lead, as I always urge them to score a second and third goal.
“We won 2-0 in Turkey by rotating the squad and nobody complained there. The squad has 22 players, I tried to put my best formation out taking everything into account. Tevez had a knee problem, Marchisio, Vidal and Pirloare a stratospheric trio in midfield, while Asamoah played wide. These were hardly second choices.”