Sergio Conceicao’s time as AC Milan’s head coach is virtually over, given he will not even be in the dugout for the final game of 2024-25.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, ‘it ends here’ for Conceicao, without having to wait for the last outing of the season. The next one at San Siro against Monza will only serve the Rossoneri fans: a heavy protest against the team and club has already been announced.
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Rome, once again, eliminated the remaining chances of European qualification. Milan are thus condemned to playing the 2025-26 season without any midweek games (barring the Coppa Italia). The last time this happened was almost ten years ago: in 2015-16 Milan finished seventh.
It actually happened again in the summer of 2019 but not for sporting reasons, rather as a result of the ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with the team excluded from Europe for having violated the rules of Financial Fair Play.
Red with anger
The season is already over for Conceiçao too. He was sent off at the Olimpico for insulting the referee Piccinini and thus a disqualification seems inevitable. Sergio has never hidden and he didn’t do it last night either.
“Whether or not he says hello makes little difference, I’m sorry I’m not close to my boys in a difficult environment. I didn’t say anything to the referee, just to respect my players,” he said after the game. For his side, it’s a a story of mistakes that repeat themselves.
In the second game in Rome this week, Milan were not too different from the first version. Lacking conviction, they found themselves chasing the game again, they showed all the tension and nervousness.
Santiago Gimenez’s elbow – regardless of the similarity with Beukema’s on Gabbia, not sanctioned in the Coppa Italia final – deserved a red card. Santi, preferred to Jovic, betrayed the confidence after only 20 minutes of the first half. Milan, with numerical inferiority, still scored through Joao Felix.
Conceiçao discussed the refereeing decisions again: “The VAR didn’t call the referee over [to the monitor] in the cup, and this was the same situation and with the same referee (Mazzoleni) as the protagonist.
“In such an important match, which is worth Europe, it’s not easy to remedy even by giving your all. This season there have been too many decisive and always negative episodes for us, due to our mistakes or those of others.
“I was confident of winning this match, we could at least have tied it before conceding their third goal. We conceded the second goal again from a dead ball, you can’t concede goals like that.”
A useless finale, then farewell
Mistakes are repeated and, by chance, Conceiçao is sent off against Roma as was Fonseca in the first meeting back in December. Paulo was sacked a few hours later. Sergio will close the season with a last, useless, match. But for him too, the Rossoneri adventure is effectively over.
At full-time he explained: “We are here also to take full responsibility. Everyone must evaluate their own work. I am demanding with myself, and I have always been working all day at Milanello. Since I arrived, the numbers say we would be in the Champions League zone.
“They have not been perfect months, absolutely not, but there have still been some positive things. We won a title and we reached a final that, yes, we should have played better, but we were there.
“Many situations then depend on details, on episodes. But if things have not been going well at Milan for a year, it is right that a historic club like this makes its evaluations.”
Fonseca and Conceicao two peas in the same pod. Crashing out in literally the same way
I’m just sorry that Allegra or Sarri didn’t come instead of Conceição, so let’s see what they would do in the same conditions.
Now he is saying that it was never possible to make UCL.
Yeah I’m sure that’s what he was saying to management before they hired him.
You can’t blame Fonseca for producing worse numbers than him.
There is not much difference but they are worse and the team went backwards.
He’s really clinging on to that super cup.