Reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League is the latest step forward in AC Milan’s project, one that started all the way back in 2020 under Stefano Pioli.
MilanNews recall how it was back on 1 October 2020 that Milan played against Rio Ave and, after an endless series of penalties, qualified for the group stages of the Europa League. After just two and a half years (929 days to be exact), the Rossoneri earned a spot in the Champions League semi-finals.
It is a target that Milan have not achieved for 16 years and it testifies even more to how much the project that the club started four years ago with Elliott and are now continuing with RedBird is working.
Credit goes to the owners, starting with Elliott who saved the club from the abyss after the failed management of Yonghong Li. They put the accounts back place and – with targeted investments – has formed a young and talented team.
Then RedBird Capital came along, another American fund, and they have decided to continue the path taken by the Singer family rather than going crazy with investments on the market that the club realistically cannot afford while under FFP scrutiny.
Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara have made many top-level signings such as Rafael Leao, Fikayo Tomori, Mike Maignan, Theo Hernadez, Sandro Tonali and Pierre Kalulu to name a few, and they also picked the right coach to nurture the group in Stefano Pioli.
The project always had the ambition of establishing Milan among the elite clubs in Europe again, but things are certainly going faster than everyone expected. That shootout against Rio Ave two and a half years ago feels like a life time ago.
How on Earth can one even think to put in doubt Pioli’s work, or the board’s management, namely the work of Maldini and Massara? Of course there are errors, after all we are talking about human beings, but is plainly obvious that the essentially the right choices were made and that we’re firmly on the right track.
I totally agree. I think also Pioli is trying to say..hey give me an actual f**ing squad and I can deliver your dreams. Because what he’s doing with so little is incredible. He’s made players better and.punch above their limit
Dollarumma have you seen the Ac Milan you left long years ago??🤣🤣🤣
0:3 gegen Inter in Supercup, 0:4 Lazio and 2:5 Sassuolo, 2-1 Turin, 0-0 Cremonese. If we miss UCL for next year it would be a nightmare for our project. Baka, Origi with a salary about 8mio which we could have spent in teenagers to develope. A 35mio belgian which we cannot integrate (remember paqueta) same Adli who did so well in french league. And sorry for the next but our captain is the only proffesional soccer player on earth who is attacking with hands at back 5m outside penalty area 😉 so YES there is a lot work left for guys responsilbe. And i do not claim because of beeing negativ i am claiming because i love milan and wish the BEST for them and in sports you need to have ambitious goals. Congrats to UCL Semi finals thats super cool, now i am expecting the final then, with Real or ManCity we face a team which cannot be compared with Inter or Napoli.
Why do u guys talk about next year? Live in the now. We have a chance to do something incredible I’d say go for it rather than qualify for next year and get knocked out of the group phase. If the draw against Bologna cost us the two points to miss next year UCL vs us making the UCL finals this year, what would u choose?
I know what I’d choose
Inter merda have more worry than AC Milan . Onana are trouble maker there fighting with his team mate like brozo,barella and they now rank 5th with just 8 match left. Not only that their financial are very bad even with CL money ,they still need to sell player every season to find 60m euro . I believe AC Milan project on right track , yes we cannot win scudetto or coppa this season due to our bad depth but i believe we can finish rank 4th in serie A
Wow Rio Ave.
That was a crazy game and craziest penalty shoot out ever.
I know that people in here don’t even wanna use their names properly, but players like Gigio Donnarumma, Hakan , Kessie, Romagnoli, Bonaventura, Castillejo, etc were big part of this journey and even though they left, their contributions should not be forgotten.
We’ll get a qualification for the next CL, I’m 111% certain of it.
Donnarumma and Calhanoglu are real clowns, but against the others I don’t hold anything. Kessie and Romagnolli specially were really very determinant.