Montolivo praises 'massive' performance from AC Milan team-mate Pazzini

The Rossoneri midfielder was thrilled with his compatriot's display after he came off the bench to score two second-half goals in three minutes to seal victory over Catania

AC Milan midfielder Riccardo Montolivo has praised Giampaolo Pazzini's "massive" performance in the 4-2 Serie A win over Catania on Sunday.

Pazzini came off the bench in the second half to score two goals in three minutes before Mario Balotelli sealed the points with a late penalty and Montolivo was thrilled to see his compatriot perform so well when it mattered most to the side.

"This was a big result for us and we always believed we could do it," the 28-year-old told Milan Channel.

"Pazzini coming on certainly helped to change things for us. When he came on, it gave us a massive lift. You have to say that he was really decisive. I'm really pleased for him.

"We did everything we could to win. We showed heart, and everyone gave their all from the first minute. We put our foot on the gas from the start.

"We wanted to score, and we created plenty of chances. We came close to scoring, but the ball would not go in, and then the first free kick we gave away, we conceded a goal.

"It wasn't easy in terms of how we had to approach the game after that, but we did well and we kept calm, and it went our way in the end."

The win propelled Milan back into third place above Fiorentina, who are running the Rossoneri close for the final Champions League qualification spot.

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Our performance against Aston Villa was unacceptable, says Sunderland boss Di Canio

The Black Cats boss admitted his side's display in the 6-1 loss to Aston Villa wasn't good enough, but the Italian is now looking ahead to the last three games of the season

Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio has slammed his side’s performance in the 6-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Monday night, dubbing it "unacceptable".

Di Canio intends to look at himself and his players to pinpoint what went wrong for the Black Cats and how they can avoid falling deeper into the relegation dogfight.

Danny Rose had equalised for the Black Cats after Ron Vlaar opened the scoring, but five further goals for the home side, including a Christian Benteke hat-trick, earned Villa a deserved and rampant victory.

Di Canio told the club's official website: “It was a very bad performance – it wasn’t acceptable. I’m going to analyse my players and myself this week and work out what has happened.”

Sunderland had won their previous two games since Di Canio’s arrival at the Stadium of Light, including a huge win over local rivals Newcastle, but their performance against Villa was well below those standards.

The manager continued: “We switched off. Maybe after two wins in a row we felt a bit full in our stomachs – but this cannot be the case, it’s never possible to be full – even at the highest level.

“We have to defend our pride and honour; we have a big responsibility to do that in all games.”

Villa’s win lifted the Midlands outfit to 37 points, the same number as Sunderland and Newcastle, leaving the Black Cats' Premier League status in the balance once more, but Di Canio has backed his side to bounce back.

“Aston Villa looked like we did in our last two games – they had fire and ferocity,” the Italian boss added.

“It’s obvious how the players are feeling right now, I have had results worse than this in my career and I felt like the worst player in the world.

“It’s important that we understand that we had a bad performance tonight and we will look at why this happened but we can’t burn what we have built over the last two games.

“We have two home games now and we know we can’t relax; it’s by no means acceptable. We are going to work as hard as we have in the last two weeks as we look forward to these games.”

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