AC Milan exited the Champions League in mid-February after losing to Feyenoord on aggregate, and a lot of fingers are pointed at Theo Hernandez.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) talk about a ‘gallery or errors’ and ‘seven minutes without logic’ for Theo, which is the symbol of a reckless season. He got his first yellow card on 44 minutes and the second on 51, putting his team in a difficult situation they were unable to prevail from.
Hernandez’s first yellow card meant would have missed the first leg of the possible round of 16 tie anyway. When the referee showed him the red card, he looked surprised and threw up his arms. Only after several seconds was he convinced to leave the pitch.
No one approached him for a gesture of comfort. Theo went down the steps of the San Siro pitch and stayed in the dressing room, the reflection of a listless, absent-minded player who is lacking in confidence and not channelling energy in the right way.
Beyond yesterday’s photograph, the gallery of horrors this season is long, starting with the errors in the first away match against Parma, after having remained on the bench in the first game of the campaign.
Then there was the rebellion in the cooling break against Lazio, another game he started on the bench after being so bad in Parma. His first red card of the season came after the full-time whistle against Fiorentina, when his protests as captain cost him two rounds of suspension.
He was at fault in the away match against Cagliari and Paulo Fonseca also excluded him against Genoa and Verona at the end of 2024. Only a clarifying conversation gives him back a starting place in the last match of the year against Roma, the one that led to the sacking of the coach.
Sergio Conceiçao took away the captain’s armband but not his starting spot. Hernandez remains the first choice left-back without raising his performance levels, and last night was the latest negative episode.
What the future holds
The latest blunders have cost Milan their place in the Champions League. The club are considering a fine, a possible – if not probable – option to punish the fact that he was sent off ultimately for a dive inside the Feyenoord box.
The question now is whether Theo will start on Saturday against Torino, but the issue is the lack of alternatives. Davide Bartesaghi is young and inexperienced, while Alex Jimenez is a right-footer who can play on the left.
Surprisingly, however, Conceiçao absolved him of blame: “I have known Theo for a long time and I know he can do much more, and so does his coach. The face of this elimination is that of Conceiçao, mine, not that of Theo. He has given so much to Milan.”
Here the coach speaks about the past though, not the present and certainly not in the future. It is unlikely that he will remain next season: Theo has a contract expiring in 2026 and negotiations for a renewal are underway but have never become that advanced.
It is also difficult to attract clubs willing to pay a high price, as shown in the winter window when the only concrete offer came from Como. Over €7m net per season was offered to the player, about €50m to Milan, and the no was from Theo, not the club.
Now the Rossoneri directors are just waiting for new offers, because story between Hernandez and Milan may have effectively ended here, on a cold evening in February.
