There is a huge UEFA Youth League clash to look forward to on Wednesday with AC Milan set to host Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
As highlighted by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Ignazio Abate’s side arrives at this huge game in an unusual run of form. They have been very impressive in Europe but not so much in the Primavera.
Milan did start the season well but in 2024, they have won just three of their 12 matches and have seen their league position suffer as a result. One of those three wins was a victory on penalties against Braga in the Youth League round of 16.
The Youth League really is the safe haven right now but beating Real Madrid is never easy, regardless of what age category you are competing in. There is added spice in the form of Milan’s Alex Jimenez, who is on loan from Real Madrid but is expected to stay at Milan permanently.
Real Madrid are also coached by a former full-back of theirs, in the shape of Alvaro Arbeloa. They are second in their league, just four points behind Atletico Madrid. Since January they have won 11 out of 12 matches and will be very confident of getting the win.
In the 12 matches in 2024, Abate’s team has scored 16 goals, conceding 20. The Spaniards have scored 27, conceding six.
The game will get underway at Vismara at 16:00 CET on Wednesday.
It will be a good opportunity for Real to see how we’re doing developing their player.
to be fair if we buy Jiménez at 5 mil and sells him back to madrid for the 10 mil mentioned in media at his current 207 minutes played it would be great business regardless of how its viewed. I get the notion though but as things stands its not really bad business,
There’s no such thing as great ‘business’ in football, and anyway isn’t the ‘business’ of football winning football matches!
Of course it is about winning but regardless of that running a football club will always also be about finances there simply is no way around it and earning 5 mil on a player for playing roughly 2.5 full matches is nevertheless great business regardless of how its percieved. Diaz deal on the other hand can be argued that it was bad business as we didn’t get a dime for playing him for 3 years in a row while we could have fielded some of our own players.