AC Milan have had a rather intriguing start to the 2024-25 season under their new head coach Paulo Fonseca, with some big highs and shocking lows already.
Fonseca did a post-match press conference after the final game of the USA preseason tour against Barcelona, a win on penalties to make it three from three after beating Manchester City and Real Madrid.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport transcribed some of his responses, including one where he was asked: “What is your objective for the season?” by a journalist. His reply was quick and to the point: “To win the Scudetto.”
Early growing pains
Milan signed Alvaro Morata, Strahinja Pavlovic, Emerson Royal and Youssouf Fofana in the summer and all were earmarked as new starters. That, combined with the arrival of Fonseca and a change in playing style, meant a difficult start was always possible.
Milan failed to win any of their opening three league games. The first alarm bells started when they were 2-0 down to Torino in round one, but Morata and Noah Okafor struck late on to complete a comeback.
Parma then beat the Rossoneri 2-1 in the second game and panic set in, especially because the Ducati had just been promoted and went many games without a win after it.
A 2-2 draw against Lazio wasn’t a bad result in isolation, but given that Milan led and then had to come from behind again – while there was a cooling break saga – it felt like Fonseca was already on thin ice.
Wins against Venezia (4-0), Inter (2-1, more on that to come) and Lecce (3-0) followed, but the October international break brought on more drama as a 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina which included a penalty mutiny saw the media sharpen their pens again.
Since then, a 1-0 win over Udinese (playing for an hour a man down), a 2-0 defeat to Napoli and a 1-0 win at Monza have followed, leaving the Diavolo down in seventh.
The big games
The first ‘big game’ of the season was the 2-2 draw against Lazio, and then the 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League in which Milan actually led after just a few minutes but were then dominated.
That came a few days before the derby against Inter and many expected a potential hammering, yet Fonseca changed tactics and the 4-4-2 worked a treat. Matteo Gabbia was the hero, scoring an 89th-minute winner that was deserved.
A loss away against Bayer Leverkusen was the next big game disappointment in the Champions League. As good as they were last season the Bundesliga champions had been leaking plenty of goals, yet Milan couldn’t score.
Beating Club Brugge inspired some confidence going into the Napoli game but with Theo Hernandez, Tijjani Reijnders, Matteo Gabbia and Christian Pulisic all not able to start, Antonio Conte’s side walked away with three pretty easy points.
Finally, we come to the statement result of the season: the 3-1 win over Real Madrid on Tuesday night. Thiaw, Morata and eijnders scored in a masterpiece of a performance against the champions of Europe.
Conclusion
Where does this leave Milan? Well, nobody really knows. The Scudetto feels like a pipe dream but the Rossoneri might get closer in the rear-view mirror this weekend, because Cagliari away should yield three points while Inter play Napoli.
Still, the team haven’t shown the consistency needed to fight for major trophies under Fonseca yet. The ceiling is high as the Inter and Real Madrid games show, but the floor remains very low.
