AC Milan’s 1-0 defeat against Roma in the Europa League quarter-final first leg last night was one of the worst performances of the season, and it came under the watchful eyes of Gerry Cardinale.
Simply put, Daniele De Rossi got the better of Stefano Pioli by a landslide in the tactical battle, with intuitions such as Stephan El Shaarawy switching flank and the out-of-possession shape rendering Roma the deserved winners.
As Calciomercato.com point out, the two most in-form teams in the league faced each other at San Siro, at least according to the points collected by both in the month of March and the run that they were both on.
Their headline is quite a startling one though, as it reads: ‘Pioli sent into a tailspin by De Rossi under the eyes of Cardinale: future at risk’.
What made the difference was the preparation for the match with Milan totally incapable of taking countermeasures to the difficulties that they found themselves in.
Here ‘the blame lies with Pioli’ per the report, who has failed all the important moments of the season: the 5-1 derby defeat, the home loss against Juventus, the decisive Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund and the points thrown away.
The impression given is that Milan have one way of playing, one that is very individual-driven, and are incapable of adapting to the opponent. Yesterday Cardinale left the stadium visibly annoyed by a deserved defeat, and now Pioli must show he has things in hand.