AC Milan were not entirely convincing during their win over Fiorentina on Saturday night so they will need to raise their game against Borussia Dortmund tomorrow, and there are potentially 100 million reasons why.
Calciomercato.com writes how the game on Tuesday night at San Siro is crucial in determining who will reach the last 16 of the Champions League, which has massive implications for Milan financially and in turn on Stefano Pioli’s future.
Pioli himself knows it and indirectly confirmed it in the press conference after the victory against Fiorentina. The coach doesn’t think he’s at risk of being sacked, but he knows a lot will depend on the next match.
“I know the risks of the job and not winning for a long time is normal for it to lead to some rumours. I never think that the next match could be the my last one on the Milan bench, in fact I think it’s the most important one,” he said.
Milan are not in financial difficulty of course, but they know well that being eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League would lead to a very important loss of revenue given the prize money and box office proceeds.
Getting into the last 16 is worth €9.6m with a potential €5m bonus for results if Milan were to win their last two group games. Then there is the market pool bonus (last year €4m) in addition to the stadium proceeds from the home match (which last year brought around €9m against Tottenham).
This year, access to the round of 16 is worth more because going further in the Champions League would allow the Rossoneri not to be overtaken by Napoli and remain behind Juventus in the race for access to the next Club World Cup (in the USA in 2025). Only the top two Italian clubs will be there (read more about the rankings here) which guarantees them approximately €50m in revenue.
If we add to this any bonuses from sponsorships the calculation becomes simple: around €100m is up for grabs against Borussia Dortmund. By beating the Bundesliga side, Milan have a great chance (as long as they don’t lose to Newcastle they would be through) of reaching the round of 16, vice versa without a victory the combinations even see elimination already certain.
Pioli knows this, and if the lack of results has so far animated the rumours about his future, Tuesday evening’s match is certainly the most important match of this season.
Basically if you spend 50M on a player (like a striker) in January to get further in CL and rank to qualify he becomes “free” because you qualified based on his extra performances. The club might even make some extra cash, depending on how far they go in that competition.
Getting a 50M€ striker in January is already too late as Milan would need him tomorrow to keep the hope alive.
Does anyone believe in winning Dortmund after “super-convincing” victory against blank-firing Viola?
It would take more than one miracle-save by MM16 to get all three points tomorrow.
yes i do. I believe they can win. BvB is as inconsistent as Milan is this season
We dominated Dortmund in Signal Iduna. I never thought it was possible to shut their crowd up but we did. Stranger things have happened in football
No Leao this time. RLC not in shape. RW missing. Defense leaking. We had more solid performances back then. Look at the recent Lecce & Viola matches. Awful. Just awful.
Heck it’s Milan. We are Milan. We do things the hard way😁
LOL, true. And I guess the recent years we would have lost these two matches… But that’s still not good enough. 😛
bb, I’m usually a skeptic, but I have a good feeling about this game. I think it will be 2-0 us. Pulisic and Giroud to score.
I pray you’re right. I’d looooove to be wrong.
But I rarely am. FFS.
Let me explain the scenario: tomorrow, Milan gets its arse kicked at home by Borussia Dortmund. Milan are out! The next day, Pioli’s sacking is announced and Zlatan returns to Milan. On Thursday, Bonera or Abaté is chosen to continue the exercise with Zlatan in the duet. Their objective: to keep Milan in the top four in the A series, but also to win the last match against Tottenham to be relegated to the Europa League, another European competition where the new duo will have to prove themselves.
BvB has to play tired too. They have some major injuries too. And they are at the Scala di Calcio. This will be an entertaining game. Giroud comes back healthy and hungry. Too bad about Leao, but others will get the chance to grow. A blessing in disguise if you ask me.