AC Milan can afford no other result than a victory tonight against Feyenoord if their Champions League journey is to continue.
As Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) writes this morning, the 1-0 defeat in the first leg complicates the qualification mission for Sergio Conceiçao’s team, but there is belief that things can be different in front of the backing of the San Siro crowd.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic spoke in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the game and ordered the team to treat the match like it were a final, to be more clinical and more aggressive than they were in the first leg.
If things do not go as the Senior Advisor of RedBird Capital hopes, there would be talk of a ‘sensational Euroflop’ given the position that Milan were in even heading into the final game of the ‘league phase’ before losing to Dinamo Zagreb.
A negative result could impact not only the club’s accounts, given that around €11m are at stake for the qualification, but also on the season that Milan are having. Tonight though the team have the chance to demonstrate a lot, above all in terms of character and pride.
There are approximately 5,000 Feyenoord fans expected at San Siro and over 50,000 home supporters ready to push Milan towards the next round. Or at least that’s what Zlatan Ibrahimovic hopes, otherwise the fall-out could be messy.
I’m going to be brutally honest here and say I’d rather see us go out tonight and focus on Serie A and CL qualifications for next season.
I also lost most of my trust for Conceicao and that is due to his choices of players, formation and tactical inflexibility. I don’t see any improvements under him rather they are regressing.
In fact I admit they look worse then under Fonzy. Every midtable team, be it Serie A or CL look more dangerous and fluid then us. I’m not convinced to continue with Sergio past this summer. I’d rather see an Italian coach take over e.g. Sarri, Baroni, Italiano, Farioli, Palladino… Or bring back “the overachiever” Pioli.
“I’m going to be brutally honest here and say I’d rather see us go out tonight and focus on Serie A and CL qualifications for next season.” 💯 💯
As for the rest, I am getting that vibe and I felt it a few rounds earlier. I don’t think he’ll be around at the end of the season unless we drastically improve aesthetically. But really though, if he can fix how we come out to play I think we can wrap up games earlier in a match. With Fonseca we were either prime Real Madrid or Chievo Verona, with being prime very few and far between.
I partially get your points, but I doubt losing tonight will improve in any way, shape or form the Serie A challenges we have. It would also seriously hurt the chances for IT 5th spot (which is hardly helping in any way).
On the contrary, it will create more tension for everyone. The guys know perfectly well what they have to do until the end of the season, but reality is matches in Italy against bottom teams are much bigger of a challenge than any other league.
On Conceicao, you might be right, might be wrong. There’s a lot of adjustments and risks when you get a new coach mid-season. We also have several big changes in the team, people that need to get used to the new environment. He came in with quite the challenge and I doubt anyone expected anything better. Players are the ones that need to show consistency in the last 2 years and it’s not fair to put that on him YET. I agree, sometimes I am perplexed by the decisions he makes, but most of those times we managed to actually turn around things and win.
“It would also seriously hurt the chances for IT 5th spot (which is hardly helping in any way). ”
This. This is exactly the only reason why every Italian club need to go as far as possible in every Euro contest this year. Even if it means Inter will be in the semi-finals (I don’t want them in the final though).
Management needs Conceicao to work to save face (or whatever is left of it). Just need to make it across the finish line in 4th and give Sergio a full preseason without Club WC so he can actually impose something onto these players.
I don’t think he has the luxury of doing that currently as Milan are in the pressure cooker of needing results. Just get the points however you can.