The Curva Sud has accused AC Milan of deliberately avoiding Europa League qualification.
In a statement from their website, Curvasudmilano.it, they state that they believe a preseason fixture clash to be the cause of such actions.
“On Wednesday July 27, 2016 at Soldier Field in Chicago,” the statement begins.
“A normal friendly, a game like so many they play in the summer with a lot of tickets already on sale. However, a look at the calendar for the Europa League shows that the team that finishes sixth in Serie A, the spot that we are ‘chasing’, would be involved in the preliminary round on that very date.
“Is that a gross error on the part of our club that is in disarray? Or we can assume that the club has already decided to deliberately lose sixth place in favour of going on tour in the US?”
“To us it seems clear that the second option is widely supported by the ridiculous results against teams lower than us in both squad and prestige.”
AC Milan took just two points from three matches against relegation threatened Carpi, Frosinone and Hellas Verona, leading some to question the team’s desire to achieve sixth spot.
“If the possibility of termination linked to the preliminary rounds does exist, there would be more revenue gained from playing a trophy for sponsors than playing against low-calibre teams in the Europa League.
“Our only lifeline is the final of the Coppa Italia, we’ve arrived in the final after many years, but the final was only the minimum goal given the path we had.”
Although preseason tournaments such as the Champions Cup are good for the revenue and brand of the clubs involved, they are not as prestigious as the European competitions the team should be wishing to get involved in.
“The plan is to get to the Europa League only through the Coppa Italia, and if not renounce European competition for another year to make room for profitable but useless summer trophies.
“This is about the worst thing that can happen in football and in the history of Milan, as well as being a blatant mockery of the fans, because lets not forget that even people who attend a dirty theatre pay for a ticket.”
