AC Milan may not have made it through to the Champions League last 16 but they did remain in Europe, though dropping into the Europa League has its pros and cons.
This morning’s edition of Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) identifies four reasons why the Europa League must be faced with great intelligence by Milan, obviously starting from the underlying assumption that Milan will play to win the competition.
The two most trying issues, however, will be linked to the physical stability of the team: on the one hand there will be a schedule that is anything simple, on the other hand we will see if Pioli will be able to stem the haemorrhage of injuries this first part of the season.
Milan have one more round to play compared to the round of 16 of the Champions League, because the play-off round is what gains access to the last 16 in the Europa League, and therefore the team will play two more matches.
There will likely be a Sunday-Thursday alternation and the possibility of having to take to the field even on Monday, and this may not be good for the Milan players’ health, which has already been put to the test in these first months. Everything will depend on the effects of the precautions that Pioli and his staff said they had taken to counteract the full infirmary.
The other two risks are more reasons why it was better to continue in the Champions League rather than be ‘relegated’ to the Europa League, even if it is useless to feel bitter. The attitude must be like that which Leao showed at the end of the match in England as he stressed a desire to go on and win the EL.
In any case, the Europa League, inevitably, brings much less money into the Rossoneri’s accounts than the UCL would have brought. If you want to match the profit made last season, in fact you have to get to the final and then clearly also win it if you want to increase your income.
Then there is the fact that the history of the Europa League and that of Milan, up to this moment, are two parallel lines: it will only be the Diavolo’s 13th appearance in the competition and none of the previous 12 have been too exciting, with only two campaigns finished in the semi-finals (1972, 2002).
Milan have never won this cup, as Pioli and Leao recalled, so history can also be rewritten, and it will have to be the Rossoneri’s goal from February onwards.