Thursday night’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against Roma is do-or-die for AC Milan’s trophy hopes in 2023-24, but it might just have the same weight on Stefano Pioli’s future too.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport recall how Pioli went to the Olimpico in September to play against Roma and the situation was very different. Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek shone, Milan started very strongly and the Scudetto didn’t seem like a forbidden thought.
In Genoa, on an October evening, the idea of winning the title appeared like a shooting star, almost enough to be touched. In mid-April, the trip to Rome for the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals is much more tense.
The first leg left a feeling of discouragement: Milan, in the decisive moment, were stunned and fell back into old mistakes. Those familiar lapses brought dark clouds over the coach with a view to 2024-25.
The crossroads
It has always been written that the two derbies – Roma in the Europa League, Inter in Serie A – would be decisive for Pioli in terms of keeping his job for next season.
Thursday’s is certainly the most important. Many fans put the derby at the top of their minds – a kind of ‘anything but Inter celebrating in our stadium’ attitude – but from a sporting point of view there is no comparison between the two matches.
For this reason, if Pioli wants to recover and begin a sixth season at Milan, he must beat Roma in their own stadium. The Rossoneri can do it, the coach believes in it, and he made it clear last Thursday in the dressing room.
If Milan reached the semi-final and won the trophy, Pioli would wipe the doubts away and go back to celebrating. An elimination against Roma, on the other hand, would complete the picture of a thorny season.
Inter are far away in the league, a Champions League group stage exit did not help, the Coppa Italia vanished in the quarter-finals and Juventus will compete in the Club World Cup next year.
What the management say
The coach for next season at Milan will be decided by the owners and by the Ibrahimovic-Furlani-Moncada management triumvirate, which has come together in recent weeks.
They rejected the possible arrival of Damien Comolli into the structure and now present themselves as the centre of the decision making. Giorgio Furlani spoke on Supertele, a DAZN program, andmade it known that it is not yet time for a definitive decision on the coach.
“It’s a bit early to make a technical assessment, let’s see this last month. So far, if we look at what was done last season, we’re doing well. Every season we start with the idea of winning, so in part every season in which you don’t win is a season in which you would have liked to have done so.”
It is clear therefore that no judgement has been made on Pioli yet. The season has not been easy for anyone – and for Pioli more difficult than for all the others – but the relationship with the club and above all the dressing room held up.
The Z factor
Ibrahimovic will have a great weight in the decision and Zlatan has always said he wants to aim for the top. He is not the type to settle for a season without trophies, ending in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Thinking about it, Gerry Cardinale’s words before Christmas also come to mind: “We are still in contention for the top of Serie A and, despite not having made it through to the Champions League, now our goal is to advance to the Europa League.”
Europe has always been a priority in his mind, even when Milan were still in the title race. For him it would be the first trophy, for Milan the first Europa League in history. It cannot fail to be so even four months later, when Serie A is no longer in question.
Cardinale was at San Siro for the first leg against Roma and will return for Monday’s derby: he is still expected at the stadium for that game.
There is no certainty about his presence in Rome on Thursday but it is certainly possible that he will show up at the Olimpico. After all, he was also in the stands in September, when Milan won against Mourinho’s Roma on the last day of the transfer window.
If Pioli gets the chop it looks like Motta’s going to Jube so who’s left? De Zerbi…Conte…Sarri…all of whom bring their own set of baggage. Emery could be a punt but I don’t think we’re even considering him.