The Champions League is never an easy competition to play in, but AC Milan were given a rude awakening in their 3-1 defeat to Liverpool.
Paulo Fonseca chose to make three changes to the starting line-up from the side that beat Venezia on Saturday night with Davide Calabria and Fikayo Tomori coming into the back four and Alvaro Morata chosen to lead the line.
Things started brilliantly for Milan when Christian Pulisic drilled a low shot inside the far post less than three minutes into the game, and you might have even seen fans taking the good fortune as a chance to have a punt at 99Bitcoin Casinos.
However, things would unravel before half-time. Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk each scored headers from set-pieces to turn the game on its head before the break.
Liverpool hit the woodwork twice, then Dominik Szoboszlai was on hand to turn in a third from close range and effectively put the game to bed, and in truth the Rossoneri never really looked like getting back into the game from there.
It is a result that certainly undoes a lot of the good work from Saturday’s 4-0 win over Venezia, and it puts further pressure on the Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen games which arrive within the next three rounds.
Fonseca under pressure
The Rossoneri fans jeered the players off the field after a very disappointing performance, one that followed a 4-0 win over Venezia which they hoped had shown the team turn a corner but proved to be just a false dawn.
Fonseca’s position as the head coach is naturally under scrutiny after a disastrous start to the season and it is causing discussions among the management. Meanwhile, Stefano Pioli has become the new coach of Al-Nassr which changes things economically.
With Pioli’s salary off the books, there is a big saving that could provide the budget to go and change coach again, with the likes of Max Allegri, Thomas Tuchel, Edin Terzic and Maurizio Sarri all linked at the moment.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – who defined himself on TV before the game as ‘the boss who commands’ – will be called to make a decision along with Geoffrey Moncada and the CEO Giorgio Furlani. They chose not to leave with the team after the game.
The next match will in fact be against Inter and though a sacking is unlikely before the derby, the match against Nerazzurri will probably be the last chance for Fonseca to show that he can lead the team moving forward.
