It ends here, without needing to wait for the last match of the season...
The next one at San Siro against Monza will only serve the Rossoneri fans: a heavy protest against the team and the club has already been announced. Rome, once again, offered the last remaining chances of European qualification: appeal trial failed.
Milan condemned to a season without Europe.
The last time was almost ten years ago: in 2015–16, Milan finished seventh and without access to international competitions. It also happened in the summer of 2019: not due to sporting failures, but as a result of a ruling by the CAS, with the team excluded from Europe (earned on the pitch at the end of the previous season) for having violated financial fair play rules.
Red with rage
It’s also already over for Conceição: sent off at the Olimpico, he insulted the referee Piccinini while leaving the pitch.
A suspension seems inevitable: he won’t take part in the final matchday. Sergio never hid and didn’t do so last night either:
“Whether I say goodbye or not changes little, I’m sorry not to be close to my boys in a difficult environment. I didn’t say anything to the referee, just to respect my players.”
On referees, this is just the first chapter...
It’s a story of repeated mistakes.
In the second away match in Rome this week, Milan was not much different from the first version.
They lacked conviction, once again found themselves chasing the game, and showed all the tension and nervousness of these days: Gimenez’s elbow, beyond its similarity to Beukema’s one on Gabbia — which went unsanctioned in the Coppa Italia final — was a red card.
And Santi, preferred over Jovic, betrayed the trust after just twenty minutes of the first half.
Milan, down to ten men, still managed to score through Joao Felix (his first in Serie A...) before collapsing under the other two Giallorossi goals.
Conceição once again questioned the refereeing decisions:
“VAR didn’t call the referee in the cup, and this was the same situation and with the same referee (Mazzoleni) involved. In such an important match, one that decides Europe, it’s not easy to recover even by giving your best. This season there have been too many decisive episodes, and always negative for us, whether due to our mistakes or others. I was confident we could win this game, we could at least have drawn before conceding their third goal. We concede the second again from a set piece, you can't allow goals like that.”
Milan, evaluations are needed
The mistakes are repeated and, ironically, Conceição is sent off against Roma just like Fonseca was in the first leg. For Paulo Fonseca, the sacking came just a few hours later. Sergio will close the season with the last, meaningless match. But in fact, his Rossoneri adventure is over too.
In the end, he explains:
“We are here also to take all the responsibilities. Everyone has to evaluate their own work. I’m demanding with myself, and I’ve always spent the whole day working at Milanello. Since I arrived, the numbers say we’d be in the Champions League zone. It hasn’t been a perfect few months, absolutely not, but there have been some positive things. We won a trophy and reached a final that, yes, we should have played better, but we were there. Many situations also depend on details, on individual episodes. But if things haven’t been going well at Milan for a year, then it’s right that a historic club like this makes its evaluations.”
Source: La Gazzetta dello Sport
