AC Milan were eliminated from the Champions League yesterday night, and Carlo Pellegatti has reflected on the result very critically.
In a season where Milan were relying on some source of positivity, the Champions League sat on a mantlepiece. However, that has now crumbled, and the season has done with it. Not only does it affect the present, but now the chances of five places next season are minimal.
The loss yesterday has had huge effects on the now and then, and understandably everyone is confused and angry about the situation. However, it is more of an exhaustion than an anger, after all, it is just the latest example of a poor performance when something more was needed.
Today, Pellegatti has reviewed the defeat, and it’s meaning, and his words have been relayed by Milan News.
“Humiliation. A never-ending humiliation in a season full of unbelievable events never experienced in Rossoneri history. Milan are eliminated by Feyenoord. I spell it out because I can’t realise it: ‘M I L A N – IS – E L I M I N A T E D – B Y – F E Y E N O O R D’.
“In the last three games, against Dinamo Zagreb and, I repeat, Feyenoord, Conceicao’s men have picked up one point. Just one measly point. The minutes pass but it’s hard to realise that I’m no longer in the Champions League, that I’m spending a month of March sitting on that damn sofa, my companion for too many long years and on which I hoped to no longer curl up on Champions League nights.
“Gone out with Feyenoord. Gone out of the Champions League.
“That’s the refrain ringing in my ears, those are the words echoing in my head. A goal after 37 seconds wasn’t enough against a team that had lost 6-1 in the last away match in Lille, but had many reserves compared to that team today.
“They blame Theo, who then repeats the same nervous and useless gesture as Musah in Zagreb for the first yellow, and then falls in the area for the silliest of simulations. If only this disastrous season saw only Theo as the sole culprit. It would be easy then to find a solution.
“The truth is that, in the last eight months, so much nefariousness, unbelievable episodes, hallucinating facts, not least the abnormal preparation on the eve of the most important game of the year, have happened that finding a single culprit is a trivial and very convenient exercise. Now let the Frenchman be fined, but there are so many who should be fined or self-culpable.
“Unfortunately, in 24 months, the precious work that had brought Milan back to its level of… normality has been destroyed. That is, a club of great blazon, a protagonist in Italy and above all in Europe, accompanied by the emotion of its wonderful fans.
“What awaits us now? So many questions. What future does this coach have? What are the repercussions on a technical and economic level in the event of a possible non-participation in the next Champions League?
“What is the morale of the environment and the players after the dismal draw and subsequent elimination? I leave the press room at the end of a Champions League match, savouring every second of this albeit bad evening.
“Because I have no certainty when I will live another night with, in the air, the music of our favourite Cup. I, always very optimistic, struggle to find reasons for consolation and hope in one of the saddest moments in Milan’s international history.
“On my way out, I am sadly reminded of a phrase that is chilling in its truth, given the authority of the person who uttered it: ‘You don’t find the solution to problems with the heads that caused them!’ That was Albert Einstein!”
The fact that his message is being echoed by the fanbase is a real concern, and things right now are very deflated, but it is not really a shock.
