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.
