Journalist Luca Serafini believes that AC Milan remain ‘fragile’ and that only restoring cohesion and balance to the side will help them achieve their objectives this season.
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Milan went into the game at St. James’ Park knowing that they needed to win and hope for a favour from Borussia Dortmund who in turn had to beat Paris Saint-Germain. They did their bit by winning 2-1 thanks to a second half comeback, but Dortmund had to settle for a draw and thus the Rossoneri finished third.
The result is that Stefano Pioli’s side have been ‘relegated’ to the Europa League, something that they have not done since third place in the UCL group stages resulted in dropping into that competition, which started being the case in 1999-00.
It means that the dreams of repeating a run deep into the Champions League knockout stages are gone, while the Scudetto looks like a distant mirage too now given that Milan are nine points off Inter.
Serafini spoke in his weekly column for MilanNews and he reflected on the Rossoneri’s European journey to this point and the next stage in it which is of course the Europa League.
“With the win over Newcastle a little but of dust ended up under the carpet, but already in the moments of relief for having remained in Europe anyway, the news arrives regarding Chukwueze that at the final whistle he touches his flexor, returns to the changing rooms without going under the Curva and in short we start again (even if it’s nothing serious, for once…),” he began.
“Everyone is free to refer the elimination from the Champions League to the episodes that seem most significant to them: the errors in attack in the first two matches, Thiaw going off against Borussia, the penalty given to PSG at the end of the match with Newcastle (ignoring UEFA FairPlay has no impact), but personally I remain of the opinion that with a limited number of injuries things would have gone differently, up to now even in the league.
“The fact remains that in Bergamo and in England the team fielded was better than the opposing team, but against the Nerazzurri this never seemed to be the case and against the English (also reworked and in other recent troubles) for at least an hour the Rossoneri did struggles to put together two passes in a row and create an opportunity.
“Then it’s true, two goals arrived, two posts hit and a reaction dictated also and above all by the substitutions (speaking of a long bench…), but it is absolutely necessary to quickly find that fluidity of play, that enthusiasm, that organisation which had put Milan at the top of the table after eight league games suggesting that the market had really strengthened the team.
“Today Loftus-Cheek, Musah and Reijnders – awarded MVP by UEFA at St. James’s Park, I must have missed something – have lowered the attacking supplies and protection to a reinvented defensive unit with Theo central and Florenzi on the left.
“This last detail is not insignificant: it makes the ship lean on one side despite Hernandez’s availability and Alessandro’s self-sacrifice, who makes the wrong choice and play more often than when he is in his position (and is systematically among the best).
“Milan remain tremendously fragile: as I wrote a week ago, there is a lack of recognised leadership in the middle of the pitch. Maignan, Tomori and Giroud (partly Florenzi himself) shout, spur, encourage, but it is there in the centre that serves as Bennacer, who with play, before whipping, gives order and personality to a team that tends to fall apart at the first breath of wind.
“It’s on the pitch, in the match, at Milanello that the turning point must take place. It will not be Ibra or the January transfer market, however important it is for helping the squad, that will determine the change of direction.
“Zlatan arrives accompanied by a detailed, extensive statement that clearly defines his high responsibilities. His returns as a player first and then as a manager – knowing his character, his ambitions – certify that a high profile project is underway as I thought with the presence of Paolo Maldini.
“Now it must be translated into the facts which are to rediscover competitiveness in Italy and Europe, in addition to the new stadium: in EL, history, duty and the fans dictate that we get to the end. Up to Dublin. And please also keep the farcical Coppa Italia in your sights this year: it becomes a bit of a more serious affair only from the semi-final onwards, so getting there must be a goal.
“It is not with money, with the market, that you win, even if they help a lot. It’s with a project that pursues a goal. Chelsea have been spending tons of pounds for three seasons: they are stuttering in the Premier League, they are out of Europe and 12th in the league, they change more coaches than socks.
“Let’s not talk about United: sixth in the league, badly thrown out of Europe. Without the tribute of the penalty to the penultimate of the group, the millionaire PSG would in turn be out of the Champions League where they have been making bad impressions for years.
“Little Girona are top of La Liga. Milan itself, second in 2021, champion in 2022, semi-finalist of the Champions League in 2023, has strict budget parameters and who knows where it would be if it incurred debt after debt or transgressed the FairPlay stakes… Ideas and competence count more than money , the logic.
“The environment needs to have cohesion, serenity, order. It must rediscover confidence, continuity, ferocity. It’s not utopia: he had everything in September and October, he lost the keys after the first break. Ibra will help without a magic wand, but with pride, authority and charisma. It’s a resource, not a problem nor a threat.
“I disagree, for once, with a backward analysis of the friends of the ‘I Casciavit’ group: it is not true and it is not right to say today that the Champions League semi-finals last season were a fortuitous event: Milan played the last two group matches and the ties with Tottenham and Napoli in a superb manner, among other things without conceding a goal other than the irrelevant one from Osimhen in the last second of the sixth match.
“A match can be lucky, a goal, an episode, but not an entire journey. Let others believe that the Scudetto was the result of Radu’s mistake in Bologna: on this side we know very well, however, that fate in sport follows karma and energy, they are a consequence of how you are, what you do and how much you are worth.
“For all these things the Rossoneri deserved to get to where they got to 8 months ago, they deserve to go to EL now. But let’s not get confused. In the meantime, the Milan Football and Cricket Club turns 124 years old: happy birthday to the old Rossoneri heart, shaped by the soul and not by a faithless cut.”
