The Champions League group stage is done and the team everyone likely had pegged as the weakest in this Group of Death, Dortmund, won the group and the team many Prem-heads and talking heads alike (or is there really a difference?) liked to win, Newcastle, finished 4th and are out of Europe. The team with the world’s best player – PSG – needed a very kind penalty kick awarded yesterday to get into the knockouts and Milan – our beloved Milan – finished 3rd…a disappointing 3rd.
We can all say injuries are to blame, and they surely are responsible for most of it in my opinion, but Milan were mostly healthy in the first two rounds and should’ve come out with at least 4 points, they came out with 2pts, and it ended up costing them. Moreover, whether rightly or wrongly, expectations were high with all the new signings this summer and the hot start to the season, so from that lens this outcome is a massive disappointment. I myself don’t agree with this perspective, but it’s understandable why it’s there and when you have the kind of busy summer Gerry Cardinale embarked on, you’re inviting this lens and critique.
So, we know what comes now – Europa – and the pivot to how Milan should handle it in conjunction with what their objectives are in the league. Had Milan made it to the Champions League knockouts, this question becomes moot, as nearly everyone would say they should play for the Champions League trophy first, league second, and…acknowledge the existence of the Coppa?…I know, the Coppa is worthless. But now, parts of the fandom are splintered on what to do here if asked to pick one thing Milan should focus on, with seemingly half saying push for the Scudetto and half saying go win the only trophy to have eluded Milan so far in their storied history.
The other perspective when you don’t have to choose one or the other is that Milan can and should fight for both equally, and that chasing one trophy shouldn’t impede your pursuit of another different trophy. I don’t believe most teams have the budget or bench to fight as hard as possible on two fronts so I tend to lean towards picking one to go all out for rather than spreading your resources to try and win in two competitons. But, I was curious to see what the recent history said on this and here’s how Champions League winners have fared since 2000 in winning Champions League AND their respective leagues (by league/CL titles/league titles):
La Liga: 10/6 (60%)
EPL: 6/2 (33%)
Serie A: 3/1 (33%)
Bundesliga: 3/3 (100%)
Primeira Liga (Portugal): 1/1 (100%)
Overall: 23/13 (56.5%)
La Liga/EPL/Serie A: 19/9 (47.4%)
So, slightly better than a coin flip overall and slightly less so for the 3 most competitive leagues in the bunch. But maybe we’re asking the wrong question since we’re talking about Europa. How do teams do when winning Europa? Well, teams who go on to win Europa have an even worse percentage when it comes to teams who hoist the Europa League trophy AND their own league trophy. That breakdown is like this since 2000 (by league/EL titles/league titles):
La Liga: 12/1 (8%)
EPL: 4/0 (0%)
Primeira Liga (Portugal): 2/2 (100%)
Russian Premier League: 2/2 (100%)
Bundesliga: 1/1 (100%)
Eredivisie: 1/0 (0%)
Ukraine Premier League: 1/0 (0%)
Overall: 23/5 (21.7%)
La Liga/EPL: 16/1 (6.3%)
So, Milan fans will need to weigh how they feel about Milan’s chances to win the Scudetto over the Europa, because odds are they can’t do both. As mentioned above, give me a Scudetto over a Europa ANY DAY.
Now, ratings…
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 7.5 – Solid day for Mike and a MASSIVE save on a for-sure goal (the pic above). Strong hands were the only thing to keep that thing out
Goal Keeping Overall 7.5
Defense
FLORENZI 7.5 – Solid. Like really solid. Very blue-collar effort. Need to come up with a little blue hardhat icon for this type of display
HERNANDEZ 6.7 – Best performance as a CB yet. Getting forward was meh. That decision in the dying moments was selfish and dumb to go for goal
TOMORI 8 MOTM – Solid all day but the goal he saved by getting his foot out and deflecting the Newcastle player’s shot from point blank…I still don’t know how he did it
CALABRIA 6.5 – After starting the year really well he’s been very meh the last 2 months. More of that on this day
Defense Overall 7.2 – On the ropes for most of the first half but really found their groove with regards to covering space, as Newcastle found plenty of lanes early but practically none late
Midfield
MUSAH 6 – Ran a lot but not much else. Was out of position a lot early and probably should’ve been in the space between the lines during Newcastle’s buildup for their only goal
REIJNDERS 6.7 – Was…fine? Very invisible in the creativity department
LOTFUS-CHEEK 6.5 – Played as a CAM? Check. Did CAM-things? Not check. Another subpar and mostly absent performance
Midfield Overall 6.5 – Weakest group on the pitch, even more than than the forwards, who left a lot to be desired. Pioli sat back more in this match and maybe playing Krunic could’ve sured them up defensively while allowing Reijnders and RLC to do more going forward. In the end, they mostly played in the game rather than influence it if you know what I mean
Forwards
LEÃO 7 – Gets a 7 for all the great runs and getting into a position to score. Could’ve had a 9 had he converted. I know it’s his first game in about a month, and yes he’s never really been known as a marksmen, but he has to do better on both of those great opportunities he had to find the back of the net
GIROUD 7 – It’s this high only because of the assist…and even then it was more luck than anything else. Still, not the best game situation and circumstances for him to impact it in ways that fit to his strength
PULISIC 7.5 – Like Giroud, is only this high because of the goal. Was very average aside from that. Still, his job is to score and score he did. Has a knack for putting himself in advantageous positions and it’s really paid off. Milan’s best summer signing
Forwards Overall 7 – Sloppy with opportunities but did enough
Subs
POBEGA 6 – He played
JOVIC 6.8 – Heating up? Had one opportunity to release the ball down the left that could’ve sparked a great opportunity for Milan to score but made amends for being part of the buildup that led to the winning goal. Despite the early hate from fans, he’s starting to produce and his traits probably would’ve been a better fit to start this game over Giroud
OKAFOR 7 – Didn’t play a lot and probably not enough to be worthy of a rating but he had a great play carrying the ball, continuing his run, and then finding Chukwueze for the winner
CHUKWUEZE 7 – Much like Okafor, usually don’t rate guys who play 10 minutes or less. And to be honest, I’m still so confused by this guy. Clearly talented, clearly been struggling, clearly has no right foot. But man, he came in and with his first touch (I think it was his first touch) and with great technique tucked it inside the far post and single-handedly took Milan into Europa League
BARTESAGHI NA – Nice seeing the kid play again. Now get him at CB and move Theo to LB until Thiaw or Kjær are back
Subs Overall 6.7 – Aside from Pobega (not counting the time-killing Bartesaghi sub), all the subs had a massive impact on the game and ended up contributing directly to the win
Coaching
PIOLI 7 – Giving him a good score, less on overall tactics and more on fight and halftime adjustments. Milan was abysmal in the first half and gave up a lot of space and lanes for Newcastle to exploit. After halftime he pulled back some, sat a little deeper to close the gap between the backline and the midfield, and that made all the difference. Newcastle lost the room they enjoyed in the first half to operate and sucked them up the pitch just a little bit more, freeing up opportunities to counter.
Despite people on Milan Twitter eager with anticipation for this to be Pioli’s death nail, he’s still standing. I, for one, am happy to see it and it’s still #IPIT for me
Final Thoughts
Nice effort to go out swinging in a very tough place to play. Milan did their part on this day but didn’t get the help they needed. I can live with that. Now it’s time to work on the league table and all of us can fight about if Milan should take the Europa League seriously or not between now and when those knockout games begin in February. Ideally they can make up a little room with Inter until then, but at least stay as far back as they are now so that when Champions League resumes and Inter’s focus is elsewhere, Milan can contemplate the decision to fight for the Scudetto or go all-in for the Europa League trophy. Hopefully there’s still a decision to be made at that point.
Forza Milan
gillis
