AC Milan welcome Feyenoord to San Siro tomorrow evening hoping for a Champions League comeback, and Sergio Conceicao once again faces a dilemma.
As Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) points out this morning, Milan will have to win by two goals to qualify for the Champions League round of 16 without needing extra time, having lost the first leg 1-0. There is no margin for error, especially because €11m in revenues are at stake too.
It will certainly require a different version of Milan compared the one seen a week ago in Rotterdam. There is a need to raise the level of performance also compared to the league match two days ago against Hellas Verona, a match in which they toiled and didn’t score until minute 75.
Against Verona, the winner came from Santiago Gimenez who has now scored two goals in his first two appearances in Serie A. Now, a spark is expected in Europe too, especially against a team that he knows so well.
One week ago Conceiçao fielded the ‘Fab 4’ from the start for the first time: Christian Pulisic, Joao Felix, Rafael Leao and Gimenez. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as hoped and the Feyenoord defence managed to frustrate them.
Will we see them again tomorrow night at San Siro, given the need to win? The coach will only make a decision today when he returns from Portugal, where he flew yesterday to attend the funeral this morning of Pinto da Costa, the historic president of Porto who passed away at the age of 87.
