Gattuso gracious, defends Welbeck and English football

Ian Watson

AC Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso refused to condemn Danny Welbeck after the Arsenal striker was accused of a blatant dive in the 3-1 Europa League win.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg in Italy, the Gunners were shaken by Hakan Calhanoglu’s long-range strike but hit back to win 3-1 on the night and assure themselves of a spot in the quarter-finals with a comfortable 5-1 aggregate success.

Welbeck levelled with just his third goal in 26 games by winning and converting a dubious penalty after going down under minimal contact from Ricardo Rodriguez.

On the day he returned to the England squad, Welbeck was accused of a “blatant dive” by former Three Lions captains Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker.

The decision was so soft, almost three-quarters of respondents to a poll sent out from the official Arsenal Twitter account said they would not have awarded the penalty.

“(Welbeck’s) a striker, he has to do what he does,” Milan boss Gattuso said.

“We can’t use that as a reference for English football. There’s a great deal of fair play in England.

“When I was a player, I’d try to take advantage of individual situations, but I’m not going to judge these things.

“I don’t want to talk about the referee (Jonas Eriksson). I don’t want any alibi. In the same way Donnarumma made a mistake, as you can, a referee can make a mistake as well.”