Champions League
Pioli still has confidence in the American owner of AC Milan. Who is to blame for the Rossoneri’s current crisis?
AC Milan failed to win their penultimate Champions League group stage match on Tuesday night, losing 1:3 at home to Borussia Dortmund. The day after the game, Rossoneri coach Stefano Pioli went to the club’s management, but despite many people’s expectations, they expressed their support for him.
AC Milan failed to win their penultimate Champions League group stage match on Tuesday night, losing 1:3 at home to Borussia Dortmund. The day after the game, Rossoneri coach Stefano Pioli went to the club’s management for a meeting, but despite the expectations of many, the club expressed support for him.
AC Milan hasn’t been in ideal form lately
Five games played, five points, an unfavourable 3:7 score and the vision of advancing to the Champions League eight-finals is getting really foggy. AC Milan can only advance out of the group in rather unlikely circumstances, and with the current quality squad, it’s simply a bummer.
The same can be interpreted as the last home game, when the Rossoneri lost to Borussia Dortmund 1:3. By the third goal, AC Milan had created some very solid chances.
Apart from Samuel Chukwueze’s goal, it is worth mentioning Olivier Giroud’s unconverted penalty or Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s complete failure, who found himself alone in front of the Borussia goalkeeper.
Dortmund, on the other hand, already have ten points and a certain progression from the group of death. PSG are second with 7 points, Newcastle third. Like AC, the English team has only five points and is only in a position to secure the Europa League.
The fact remains, Stefano Pioli’s charges have many injured players, but this is a problem that Milanello must also solve. However, even without Rafael Lea, Noah Okafor or Ismael Bennacker, AC had enough to get 3 points against Dortmund.
Pioli still has confidence, so where is the fault?
However, despite the multiplying speculations, it was revealed that coach Pioli still has confidence with the American owner. So let’s recap AC’s biggest and most important games in the current campaign.
A high-scoring derby defeat against Inter 1: 5, followed by goalless draws against Newcastle and Dortmund. Then AC lost to Juventus (0:1) and PSG (0:3), after which Pioli’s charges drew 2:2 with Napoli. The success in Paris (2:1) put Milan in a decent position in the Champions League group, but they lost it in the match against Dortmund (1:3).
Fans of the famous Italian giant are quite clear about this. Pioli and his coaching staff, including the fitness coach, are to blame for the current crisis. The Rossoneri regularly have a number of key players on the injured list. AC’s pilot is unable to use the potential of the players at his disposal, he is no longer able to bring anything to the team.
But despite the criticism in the media and among the fans, the club’s management is still clearly happy with the AC coach. According to Football Italia, American owner Gerry Cardinale has no plans to sack him before the end of the season and believes he can still turn the unfavourable situation around.
Source: UEFA, Football Italia, Tuttomercato web
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