The finish line is in sight for AC Milan, who could realistically clinch a Champions League return within the next fortnight.
It is very rare that you get a dull season with Milan, and although 2025-26 hasn’t quite matched the last campaign in terms of the extreme highs (beating Real Madrid at the Bernabeu) and gut-wrenching lows (having two head coaches, the cooling break saga, UCL exit to Feyenoord and a Coppa Italia final defeat), it has still been a roller coaster.
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For example, the narrative surrounding the team has been polarising. After clinching a derby double on March 8 there was talk of a renewed Scudetto push, but then a couple of weeks later it felt as though even a top four spot might crumble away.
It has been an admittedly difficult recent run for Milan, who have won just two of their last six and have failed to score in three of their last four games. Yet, the recent stalemate with Juventus – coupled with the gap already built – means that the main aim for the season is now within reach.
Six more points
To mathematically qualify for top four, Milan need six points out of a possible 12, and that is presuming that the chasing pack take all available points. If they finish level on points with Roma or Como, the Rossoneri will be ahead in their head-to-head record, hence the need for a 50% quota.
The next matches will see the Diavolo face Sassuolo (away), Atalanta (home), Genoa (away) and Cagliari (home). Simply put, it is very much in the hands of Massimiliano Allegri and his team, who are in a great position compared to the one it looked like they might be a few weeks ago.
Looking at the calendars of the other top four rivals, Napoli will play Como at the weekend in round 35 in a game that will tell us a lot about the direction of both teams. If Cesc Fabregas’ side win at home they could really reopen things, but a triumph for Antonio Conte’s men might seal Napoli’s spot inside and Como’s outside.
The Partenopei will then face Bologna at home (9th in the table), Pisa away (20th) and Udinese (11th) to round off the season. With Napoli only needing four more points, they should secure Champions League without too much of a fuss.
📅 The remaining fixtures for the five teams in the Champions League race.
🤔 How many points will #ACMilan get? pic.twitter.com/YHjBuFEEEe
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) April 27, 2026
Juventus meanwhile are in a position where they too must make use of their three-point cushion over fifth. Verona at home (19th), Lecce away (17th), Fiorentina at home (15th) and Torino away (13th) is not too challenging a finale on paper. However, there is the added dynamic of Lecce being in a survival battle, and a derby to finish the season.
After Napoli, Como have Verona away, Parma at home (12th) and Cremonese away (18th) to end 2025-26. It feels like it all comes down to the aforementioned game against the Neapolitans for them, though a Lombardy derby in the final round versus a Cremonese side currently one point from safety is tasty.
Finally, there is Roma who are currently sixth but level with Como on 61 points. Fiorentina at home is followed by Parma away (12th), the derby against Lazio 98th) and Verona away to conclude the campaign. The derby feels big, but the Giallorossi must back themselves to win at least three.
This isn’t a particularly exciting take, but it feels as though the most likely scenario – on the balance of the remaining games – is that things stay as they are with regards to the top four spots. The beauty, though, is that football is not played on paper.
Milan must do their jobs in all of this and get to the magic six-point marker quickly. Failure to beat Sassuolo would put added pressure on Atalanta and the two games after that, especially given the shortcomings exposed against bottom-half teams and with the attack struggling.
Like the article says there is never a dull moment with Milan. Lets hope they surprise on the upside this time…wrap things up over the next 2 games, wouldn’t that be something. Keeping the faith though. Forza Milan.
Basically as I wrote before, Milan most important game was against Verona.
And now second most important game is against Sassuolo.
It is because in last 4 games Roma have not so easy opponents and they could draw at least one game.
Como hopefully could at least draw next game.
So with one win Milan is on 8 points difference, so need only one more point in last three games to secure UCL spot.
I think it is healthy to believe how Como and Roma shouldn’t win all last four games – because that would both teams make 5 games in row wins.
In worst case scenario Milan must draw 3 and win one to get final spot.
The great AC Milan ladies and gentlemen, the great AC Milan collecting petty points for a top four spot. 🙄
Greatness doesn’t happen overnight.
Be patient or else you’ll never get your greatness.
Last season it was collecting goal conceding records and 8th place prize money…
Thank you Max. I’m not sure if people have amnesia or are brand new fans. I understand Milan should aim for the moon. But also keep your feet on the ground. Last season, every opponent looked like Bayern or PSG, scoring at will. Not to mention the banter and the Li years. We are building, it takes time. What i’m looking for is progress. grinding results 1-0s vs the Genoas of the world are fine this season. Next season, we expect more
In theory, Genoa and Cagliari are easier games to get to the 6 points, and Atalanta and Sassuolo are the tougher adversaries. However we all know that Milan tend to struggle more against bottom-feeders than against decent teams.
Even though our advantage is significant including because of the head-to-head rules, I still don’t feel reassured because we’ve been unimpressive and inconsistent lately, unlike in earlier points of the season, so I keep fearing a late season collapse and will only relax when we actually mathematically secure the top 4.
Also, we tend to play worse when we don’t have Modric, and he won’t be there for our last four games.
So I remain apprehensive. Still, I’m aware that I’m a generally pessimistic and anxious individual, For example, my son who is a more positive person than I am, is not worried at all and is quite sure that we’ll secure the top 4 spot.
Also, the OPTA statistical analysis site gives us a 95% chance of securing top 4. It means that in 19 out of 20 scenarios we get it, and in only 1 out of 20, we don’t. Still, somehow I can’t shake out the apprehension!
Too bad that the woodwork hit by Alexis against Juve didn’t go in. Not to forget other moments in the season when we passed on earning points, like Pulisic’s missed PK against the same Juve; we could have collected 6 more points and kept Juve 9 points down with a tiny bit more luck. Not to forget, throughout the season other players’ also missed several sitters.
This season does feel like a missed opportunity to fight for the Scudetto, due to the many silly points that we dropped. But I’ll be happy with top 4; we really do need to go back to the Champions League, otherwise we will have essential players leaving, good players won’t want to sign with us, and the financial blow will prevent us paying for good signings.
Milan will finish 2nd.
Surprisingly, pretty entertaining 2nd half of Atletico vs Arsenal.
BTW, the 2nd coming of Paolo Maldini Riccardo Calafiori is barely playing for Arsenal. Almost 2 full seasons in Arsenal and he has played a total of 3450 minutes. He played 3000 minutes in just 1 season at Basel.
Meanwhilе, Ruggeri, who Atletico chose over Theo Hernández, has been awesome in Madrid. Full time starter and already played over 3100 minutes just this season. Gattuso didn’t even call him up for the national team. Atletico paid 17 mil for Ruggeri. Same amount Milan paid for Estupiñán
We have terrible scouting. A club that signed the likes of Emerson Royal and Estupiñan is not serious.
The person who thought that shipping Kalulu out to Juve, a rival no less, for about the same money spent on Emerson Royal, a historically bad player, is utterly incompetent. I don’t remember the details but I think Paulo Fonseca wanted Royal – go figure why. Maybe because they both spoke Portuguese? It can’t be because of footballing skills, which Royal sorely lacks.
Scouting failures are piling up. We actually spent quite a bit of money but often that money was misspent. Such as, spending huge money on Nkunku, a has-been who flopped badly at Milan, as fully expected.
Even the loan scouting is laughable. Füllkrug, another has-been, had scored 1 goal in one and a half EPL seasons, which is Origi-like. Unsurprisingly, he flopped at Milan too. Useless.
He doesn’t care. Z watches football so he can come here and use the current game to show how he was right in a comment 2 years ago. Great guy 😂😂😂
I should probably clarify after last season’s throw away comment, this team passing itself as having a connector with the place of Como can f” off as they’ve no business being in Italian football.
Can someone explain to me the logic of buying a club in Italy and filling it with foreigners?
This exact Como team could be playing in Spain and it’d have more connection to La Liga than it does Serie A.
Serie A is a sh%t league and Italian teams make no money so what is the attraction to passing teams off as Italian???
And why do we bother having anything from anywhere anymore?
F’it you call ham ‘Parma ham’ wherever it’s from. Danish or any old sh*t. The mafia will love it.