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.
