As Milan now looks to scramble for a top four spot, what went wrong?
On Sunday, Milan will face Atalanta as the Rossoneri look to secure a Champions League spot. Given La Dea handed them a 3-0 loss at the Stadio San Siro in their prior meeting, it’s safe to say that the Bergamo-based outfit aren’t the team Milan would have wanted to face in such a crucial game. Yes, Milan do have an excellent away record. Plus, Atalanta will need to recover after their Coppa Italia clash with Juventus a few days prior. But they’ll be taking on an opponent who have done remarkably well for themselves once again and are starting to show they’re no flash in the pan. Milan, meanwhile, will need to deal with the bitter disappointment from falling from Scudetto contenders to barely hanging on to a top-four spot.
What went wrong for Stefano Pioli’s side?
Eight years. That’s how long it’s been since Milan were last in the Champions League. And on Sunday, the Rossoneri will have to ensure they don’t make it nine years by dropping points when they travel to take on Atalanta.
Milan’s fall from grace this season have been a disappointing journey for Rossoneri fans, to say the least. At the start of 2021, Milan were on top of the league table and looking good to win their first Scudetto in a decade. But the weekend of February 13-14 would change everything. In the span of 24 hours, the Diavolo would suffer a shock reversal to debutants Spezia while Inter would beat Lazio.
The weekend after that was the Derby della Madonnina, and for the first time in years, Milan and Inter were in the top two spots in the table. By the time the dust settled, Inter had secured a 3-0 victory. It was that game that arguably changed the tide of the season, as the Nerazzurri never looked back. Milan, for their part, started to slide. In fact, at one point, the Rossoneri were as low as fifth in the table and they will now come into their upcoming game with Atalanta having lost seven games this season. While they’ve now risen back into third, all seven of those losses happened in 2021; they went through the entirety of 2020 unbeaten.
So what exactly went wrong? In 2020, it seemed like Pioli’s team were unstoppable. Now, they’ll need to beat Atalanta in order to avoid missing out on the Champions League once again, as both Juventus and Napoli will be taking on Bologna and Hellas Verona respectively and are lurking just behind. It’s possible that Milan, Juventus, and Napoli could all qualify and push Atalanta out, but Milan would have to beat the Bergamo-based outfit badly – like the way they crushed Torino recently. While Atalanta don’t have the most formidable defense, that’s not likely to happen.
There are several issues here. First, Milan’s top goal-scorer is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. There’s no doubt that the big Swede is a world-class footballer, but he’s nearly 40 years old. Injuries have taken their toll, and he’s missed quite a few games for the Rossoneri this season. That includes this upcoming one as he’s battling a knee problem that will see him, unfortunately, miss out on EURO 2020. The team brought in Mario Mandzukic in a bid to help shift some of the responsibilities, but he, at 35, is no spring chicken himself and has struggled for form and fitness. Plus, Mandzukic arrived out of shape, not having played live football for months and thus ended up spending more time on the treatment table than on the pitch.
The next highest scoring player on the team is midfielder Franck Kessie, followed by backup striker Ante Rebic. It’s quite notable that defender Theo Hernandez is in the top five in terms of goal output, but it’s showing that Milan can grab a goal from anywhere. Still, solving their dependency on Ibrahimovic will be absolutely vital to Milan’s competitiveness next season, as without him in their ranks, they appear to be a totally different side.
Issue number two is their lousy home form. Oddly enough, the Rossoneri were a top side in their travels but were quite poor at the Stadio San Siro, and that’s cost them dearly. To illustrate, Milan won 15 of their 18 road games, losing just twice and drawing the other. At home, it was a different story, with just eight wins out of a possible 18. Losing to teams like Juventus isn’t out of the ordinary, but to Sassuolo is, and dropping points to Parma, Hellas Verona, Cagliari, Sampdoria, and Udinese, where they drew instead of winning meant they lost 13 crucial points. Points that certainly would have helped them as they hoped to win their first Scudetto since 2011.
And hopefully these lost points won’t come back to haunt them as they now fight for a much-coveted spot in next season’s Champions League as a last bit of salvation after a disappointing season.
