Just like that, AC Milan’s entire season boils down to qualifying for the Champions League.
The Rossoneri’s last chance at silverware ended in frustration on Thursday, as a 2-1 loss at Roma completed a 3-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of the club’s Serie A rivals.
Even an early Zeki Çelik red card wasn’t enough for Milan, who couldn’t solve Daniele De Rossi’s side after falling behind in the game’s opening stages.
“Roma deserved it. They put more quality on the pitch than us,” a downbeat Milan boss Stefano Pioli said in a post-match interview with RAI Sport. “I expected the team to play better and win. I’m not satisfied with tonight’s effort.”
The loss means that Milan — who trail city rivals Inter by a whopping 14 points in Serie A — has little to play for beyond sealing a place in next year’s Champions League.
Atalanta (who also advanced to the Europa League semifinals on Wednesday with a 3-1 aggregate win over Liverpool) knocked Pioli’s club out of the Coppa Italia back in January, and with Roma advancing at the Stadio Olimpico, an all-Italy final may still await.
For Milan, however, this will go down as a strange, disappointing day at the office. Roma’s 1-0 win at the San Siro was already a difficult scoreline to overturn, and the Rossoneri did seemingly everything possible to make the situation worse in the second leg’s early minutes.
Just 12 minutes in, Milan stood by passively as Lorenzo Pellegrini’s curler smacked off the post, then collectively continued to watch as Gianluca Mancini waltzed in to steer the rebound home.
He won't have many easier finishes, but Gianluca Mancini cannot stop scoring for Roma!
Goals in both legs for the Italian defender 🐺 pic.twitter.com/fAAKwjAb4D
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 18, 2024
Roma dropped off, but maintained a direct threat that Milan would rue just 10 minutes later. Romelu Lukaku couldn’t make the initial attack count, but again the second phase favored Roma: the loose ball fell to Paulo Dybala for a ruthless finish.
Paulo Dybala with a GORGEOUS curler 💎
Roma are ROLLING at the Olimpico 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/Miw6lUJwUn
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 18, 2024
Still, Milan got a lifeline, with Çelik getting a 31st-minute red card after a wild swipe took Rafael Leão out from behind.
Meanwhile, the game descended into odd territory. The rain in Rome turned to sleet, while the teams combined to make three substitutions before halftime. Lukaku left with an injury in the 28th minute, while both clubs made tactical changes due to the red card, the scoreline, and the nature of cup soccer.
Pioli kept throwing numbers at Milan’s problems, and two more halftime substitutions saw a move to a 4-1-3-2 formation with Christian Pulisic playing underneath two out-and-out strikers, while his U.S. men’s national teammate Yunus Musah was stationed at right back.
The problem for Milan? None of this particularly worked, and despite attempting 20 shots, the Rossoneri were unable to truly worry Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar.
Only once Milan seemed to have accept defeat did the breakthrough come, though Matteo Gabbia’s 85th minute goal was nothing but a consolation.
Milan’s work this season isn’t over, with the next week including games against Inter and Juventus. However, with Serie A virtually certain to go to the blue half of the city and Milan nearly mathematically sure of a spot in next season’s Champions League, April and May will be as much about sorting out where a promising season went wrong as it is anything else.
