AC Milan’s Coppa Italia journey ended prematurely last night as they lost 2-1 to Lombardy neighbours Atalanta despite having led in the game.
La Gazzetta dello Sport recall that at the end of the game the Curva Sud showed their impatience and displeasure with dramatic gestures and words, as if to say ‘go away, not this time’. There were also deafening jeers, marking a very negative end to a cold and bitter night.
Milan are out of a cup that has so far been cursed, at least under Stefano Pioli. Under his management there have been two eliminations in the semi-finals, two in the quarter-finals and one in the round of 16. C
The Rossoneri are still in the running to win the Europa League, but the most feasible objective vanished in front of 60,000 fans on a Wednesday in early January that smacks of regret, and that could have big implications.
Gerry Cardinale makes winning things his guiding star. In every interview he always remembers how important it is to lift trophies and have a winning mentality, while Paolo Scaroni – the president – almost disregarded the competition before kick-off.
Milan’s last Coppa Italia win dates back to 2003, the season of four goals against Roma in the first leg and a 2-2 draw in the second leg, after the Champions League final won against Juventus. From there the Rossoneri lost two finals, the first in 2016 and the second in 2018.
There are some takeaways from the game, starting with the positive aspects. The first is Rafael Leao, who scored again in the cup doing so against Cagliari in the last round, and he showed his understanding with Theo Hernandez as well.
Furthermore, there is a legitimate argument that Milan did not get the major decisions their way. at the end of the match, Leao published a couple of posts on ‘X’ regarding the refereeing incidents, which Bennacer agreed with, and it shows there is a fire burning within.
However, many doubts emerge too. This time Alex Jimenez didn’t shine: in addition to the penalty incident, there were some errors, including a naive foul in the first half. The Spaniard is good when it comes to attacking, less so in the defensive phase, but he has time to improve.
So does Yunus Musah, who struggled in the right wing-back role he was given (question marks over Pioli’s choice there remain), while Luka Jovic did not get into the game.
The bottom line is that Milan are a seesaw, sometimes up like in Empoli and other times down, like in the cold of San Siro. There are no half measures.
