In his current position, Paulo Fonseca could be sacked next week – unless he wins against Inter. Whilst the AC Milan fans are not confident of success, the management have reiterated their faith in the Portuguese head coach.
This weekend’s derby could be the change Milan need. Should they win, they will go level with Inter, and confidence could be reinstalled in the squad and the manager, anything less and a gap will be created between the rivals, and more importantly, the Rossoneri and the top four.
With this in mind, Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) compared the situation to Simone Inzaghi’s two seasons ago, and perhaps Fonseca can take some inspiration from the story.
A look at the past
Gazzetta starts off comparing the two managers’ aesthetics, the quiff, and their well-put togetherness. However, then quickly refers to the 2022/23 season – a season where Inter were outside of the Champions League places in April and had lost five of their last seven games.
Then, the Nerazzurri reached the Champions League final, winning eight successive games, and reached third place. All whilst names were floating around the managerial position, names which could replace Inzaghi, which is happening with the Portuguese.
A fantastic exorcist-like ending to the season, and this is what Fonseca requires, albeit at the start of the season, rather than the end. Winning the derby and re-writing the story in the Champions League would see him stay past this week.
Different destinies
Looking at their stocks, Fonseca and Inzaghi could not be further apart. The Italian is highly rated, in fact, some see him as the best manager in the world behind Pep Guardiola at present. On the other hand, the Portuguese head coach could not be viewed in a worse light.
However, Inzaghi is not perfect, and even if he did manage to earn a draw against Manchester City with a weakened eleven, he still drew to Monza with a stronger strength team. Gazzetta states ‘he is not the pope’, before suggesting that Fonseca paid for the ‘Devil’s double soul’ making things infinitely more difficult.
With Inter in such control in the derby rankings, Paulo must break it this weekend, and doing so will ‘give him oxygen and a future’ anything less will see him depart.
