Gerry Cardinale left Italy yesterday after seeing AC Milan’s first win of the Paulo Fonseca era, and he had a phone conversation with the head coach after the game as per a report.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Cardinale will not be in the stands tomorrow night for the debut in the Champions League against Liverpool due to work commitments, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic will return from his period of absence.
It remains to be seen whether Cardinale will return to attend the derby on Sunday which will be Inter’s home game. If with their previous owner Steven Zhang the relationship was very cold, with the new Nerazzurri ownership (Oaktree) the harmony is greater as the new stadium synergy shows.
The European debut and the subsequent derby were among the topics discussed in the phone call that Cardinale made to Fonseca yesterday. The two had already texted each other on Saturday evening, after the 4-0 win against Venezia.
However, before taking off from Milan, the founder of RedBird Capital also wanted to speak to him to re-iterate both his satisfaction after the performance against the Venetians and his hope that the team will continue on this path in the next two games, which are decidedly more challenging.
During his two days in Milan, Cardinale also found time to go to Vismara to watch a Milan Women league match for the first time as they lost to Fiorentina on Saturday. The welcome he received from the girls of the Football School was lovely, asking him for selfies and autographs.
The president naturally also took stock of the situation with his closest collaborators, from CEO Giorgio Furlani to technical director Geoffrey Moncada, with whom he is in daily contact. The renewals of Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez must accelerate, given their deals expire in 2026.
