AC Milan fell to defeat in their final Champions League game against Dinamo Zagreb, coughing up a top eight spot in the process.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) writes, it was neither a win nor a draw for Milan in Croatia. Instead, it was an ’embarrassing loss’ in many ways against Fabio Cannavaro’s side, and now the play-offs await.
Making life difficult
Milan will have to go through the play-offs and in the play-offs they will meet one of Juve and Feyenoord, the team of Santiago Gimenez, the centre-forward they like and who was injured last night (it seems like nothing serious).
If the Rossoneri overcome the first hurdle, they will then face Inter or Arsenal. Thus, it is now a path full of pitfalls with the possibility of a double Italian derby, but this Milan cannot afford to look beyond the next match.
The first half last night in Croatia was terrible and the dignified second half – played entirely a man down due to the unfortunate red card for Yunus Musah in the 39th minute – does not save anything or anyone, it represents the minimum.
The fact that the victory did not help Dinamo Zagreb to reach the play-offs makes the regret worse. Milan finish in 13th place in the table and if yesterday they had been beaten by Barcelona or Arsenal, the outcome would have been acceptable, but they lost to third place in the HNL.
Congratulations to Cannavaro, but Milan had to do much more, because they had (and have) the means. Everyone is guilty, including Sergio Conceiçao: the coach did not convey the right motivation to the group or perhaps he injected too much of it, who knows.
Mental collapse
Milan’s approach was soft and subjugated by Dinamo Zagreb’s will. Attitude is sometimes more powerful than technique, and in the first half of Milan there were too many players that were not at the races.
It was a widespread catalepsy and softness, then panic too which Matteo Gabbia was a victim of around the 20th minute. On a pass from Pavlovic, the centre-back twisted, stumbled – the uneven ground is no excuse – and had the ball stolen from him by Baturina who scored.
At 1-0, Dinamo targeted Milan’s nerves and insecurities, and Musah fell into the trap. He got a silly first yellow card because he tried to pull up a player who was wasting time on the ground after a foul, then about 20 minutes later he dragged Stojkovic down on the edge of the area.
It complicated an evening that should have been straightforward and the hosts continued their barrage with targeted attacks, rapid counter but tactical balance. They even missed big chances to make it 2-0 before the break.

The reaction in vain
Let’s imagine there was yet another dressing down from Conceiçao at half-time, a constant in the Portuguese’s first month in the Rossoneri. Gabbia and Alvaro Morata went off, Filippo Terracciano and Samuel Chukwueze came on.
The first change didn’t pay off. Indeed, with Terracciano, Milan’s defensive phase worsened. The introduction of Chukwueze was the real jolt, and the Nigerian actually provided some much-needed energy off the bench.
Milan actually got themselves level as Pulisic turned and fired in with a precise shot from inside the box, but parity didn’t last long, Terracciano was fooled by Ademi on the right, who sent a ball in the middle to Pjaça, finishing with a low diagonal shot to make it 2-1.
A minute later, another revolving door against Milan: a penalty awarded for a foul on Leao then cancelled by VAR, for a slap by Leao on Mmaee. Following this, a tired team lumbered towards surrender, accepting their fate.
“…unfortunate red card for Yunus Musah” I don’t see how is it unfortunate when a player forces the referee to give him the 2nd yellow. Like pulling the players jersey wasn’t enough he had to add something after the foul, to make it easy for the ref. There was nothing unfortunate about it, but stupid. What a tool, this guy has 69 IQ.
It’s not the red card that is unfortunate, it’s us spending 20M€ on Musah that was unfortunate.
With the 69 you’re being way too generous. Musah, fkng imbecille. Beyond stupid. Useless. Never again, please.
Yeah Musah was stupid. However let’s put some context to it. Is Musah ready to be a starter at a club like Milan? I really like him, I think he’s at the moment a rough diamond, potentially a really really good player, and has overwhelmingly been decent for us. But this comes back to recruitment. Newcastle aren’t in the CL and look at their midfield 3! We went from a fully fit Bennacer, Kessie and Tonali, to what we have now. Bad recruitment, no depth, nothing has been decided based on football. Our midfield has basically changed every summer since the scudetto, there is no consistency.
There is also no blame on Gabbia for me, to do so is taking the easy way out. He’s been practically impeccable since he returned, he’s our only truly smart and level headed CB, the slip was just a slip. The team performance outside of that was pathetic and impotent besides a moment of inspiration from Pulisic. The basics just aren’t there, the passing is slow, predictable, and easily intercepted. We seem slower, weaker than all our opooenekts whether it’s Juve, Inter or Oarma, Zagreb….we are always out jumped on headers, our first touch always seems poor, our players always seem double teamed whilst the oppositions have space in abundance…there’s no desire. Musah’s stupidity is just a bi product of all of this…
Kita tidak membutuhkan perombakan skuad,tapi yang kita butuhkan penggantian semua pemain dan manajemen
It’s not that we need a squad revolution, at this point we need a squad demolition. The truth of the matter is: we are an average team, made of average team managed by a bunch of incompetents and the results clearly show where we belong. You can hire any coach at this point, I doubt that we will have much better results with the players we have. Conceição sucks ? Yes. Should he be blamed ? Also yes, that is a fact, but I frankly doubt that Allegri or Sarri or Terzić would have produced much better results if they also took the team by the end of december. And please don’t tell me we should have kept Fonseca, the coach who got us 8th in the first place just because we managed to look good once every 2 monthes.
All of the current management, Furlani, Moncada and Ibrahimović need to be relieved of their duty, the sooner the better and be replaced by a COMPETENT sporting director.
Pulisic, Gabbia and Maignan are our only sure value that need to be maintained at all cost.
Perhaps Reijnders, Thiaw, Pavlović and that sorry excuse for defensive midfielder that keeps shooting to the fans from outside the penalty box, should be kept as well, but I won’t say it in the affirmative like the first ones.
Mayyyyyyybbbbeeeeeeeee, if we’re really nice and optimistic we could also keep some of the former scudetto winners like Leão, Théo in hopes that someday, in the distant future , if they’re surrounded by good teammates and a good management, they’ll produce good games in a consistent manner. But this looks more like a dream rather than anything else, so don’t call me out on this one.
All the others ones that I didn’t mention need to pack their suitcases and be ready to leave. If they’re still here by next season, it means we’re not serious.
The Tonali sale was a disaster. Those Redbird fanboys who still try and justify it like to try and claim Tonali isn’t that good, but right now he’s arguably the best midfielder in the prem. the Newcastle 3 is certainly the best in the league right now. Think how good he’s be for us in serie A right now. The money from his sale wasn’t spent well, besides Pulisic and Reijnders who I believe we could have signed without the sale. Redbird f@cked up.
Yes, it wat a disaster. If you look at his level, but also because he was the only competent Italian in our team and really gave everything every match.