As Internazionale go into the final Serie A game of the season against Como, they still have a chance of winning the Scudetto, and just a week later, they will contest the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain
AC Milan, on the other hand, who were humbled 3-1 by Roma on Sunday night, won’t even get the opportunity to play European football next season after that loss against the Giallorossi left them with too much of a gap to make up on the last weekend of the campaign
Not since October 2019 had Roma beaten Milan in the league, ending a run of 10 consecutive matches without success against the Rossoneri in the competition (4D, 6L).
Leandro Paredes’ direct free-kick – his first since May 3rd, 2023 (vs Lecce with Juventus) – was the pick of the bunch, and all of the last six goals scored by him in Serie A have come from a set piece (two direct free kicks, four penalties).
The disappointment of losing out on a European campaign in 2025/26 comes hot on the heels of a Coppa Italia final loss to Bologna, whose 1-0 win gave them their first major trophy in 51 years.
For the Rossoneri, that was yet another kick in the teeth, and it almost certainly signals the end of Sergio Conceicao’s tenure on the bench.
Who would want to manage the Rossoneri now?
The issue for one of Italian football’s most storied clubs is who will take over what has become a poisoned chalice of a job?
Just three Italian top-flight titles this century (2003/04, 2010/11 and 2021/22) speak of a club in almost terminal decline. Indeed, with just that one game left in 2024/25, Milan are a cavernous 18 points behind the team with whom they share their stadium, and 19 behind likely champions Napoli.
For a team that are the third most successful in terms of league titles won, that’s a disgrace, though it would appear to be a number of issues that have contributed to where things have gone wrong over the past few seasons.
Financially, it’s fair to suggest that there’s been a real lack of stability since Li Yonghong purchased the club from Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, in 2017.
“Milan has now embarked on this path towards China,” Berlusconi was quoted as saying at the time, about the sale of a club he’d owned for over three decades.
Financial issues have had a knock-on effect on transfers
Unfortunately for all concerned, it wouldn’t be long before Elliott Advisors (now known as Elliott Investment Management) took over.
In 2018, they called in a debt that Li Yonghong had defaulted on, and despite a reasonable amount of investment from them thereafter, they too sold the club on, this time to RedBird Capital Partners in 2022 for €1.2 billion.
What this has meant in practice of course is that there hasn’t been an awful lot in the kitty for transfer funds, hence why purchases of players like 32-year-old Alvaro Morata (six goals in 25 games) – and who moved on loan to Galatasaray within six months – and 34-year-old Kyle Walker – who’ll return to Man City after a disastrous loan spell – have become the norm
Although decisions such as removing a club legend like Paolo Maldini from his role as director will likely have gone down well with the Curva Sud, Milan’s famous ultra supporters who had little respect for the elegant left-back, the message it sends elsewhere is one of a club that has lost its identity.
Managerially, at least Stefano Pioli can point to a title win during his tenure, though that’s been the one bright spot in a recent and never-ending gloom.
Paulo Fonseca was seen as a saviour of sorts, but he only lasted six months as former ace, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now a senior advisor to the owners and who clearly holds a special place in the hearts of all Milanistas, flexed his muscles in the boardroom.
Unfortunately for the outspoken Swede, his choice for Fonseca’s replacement, Conceicao, has fared little better and Zlatan’s typically bullish interview at the start of the current campaign where he announced “I am the boss and I am in charge, all the others work for me,” has left him with egg on his face.
When Fonseca was sacked late last year, Milan found themselves in eighth position and eight points below a Champions League spot. At present, Milan are in ninth position and seven points from the UCL with one game to play.
Felix and Gimenez have been disappointments
On the pitch, what should be a well-oiled and well-drilled machine has often just looked like a bunch of headless chickens without a clue.
A supposed world-beater in Joao Felix certainly hasn’t lived up to the hype, for example.
One goal in 16 games, of which nine were as a starter, shows that the Portuguese was never going to be the answer. Frankly, the board can’t have done their due diligence because had they taken one look at how enigmatic the player had become during stints at Barcelona and Chelsea, they would never have gone anywhere near him, and certainly not at the expense of players who are prepared to put in a shift.
Rafa Leao has at least ensured his numbers – 11 goals and 10 assists – are much more acceptable, but he, too, has flattered to deceive during the big moments.
Santiago Gimenez hasn’t really had the impact that everyone expected after his switch from Feyenoord either, whilst Theo Hernandez has started to become something of a liability down the left side.
In short, there is so much to do in order to bring the Rossoneri back to the top table of domestic and European football, and it isn’t just Rome that wasn’t built in a day.
