Amorim: ‘Milan not in the game during first half, I’m ready to adapt’

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Football Italia

·16 September 2026

Amorim: ‘Milan not in the game during first half, I’m ready to adapt’

Ruben Amorim admits Milan might have a mental block after their 2-0 Europa League defeat to Benfica, explains some of his controversial choices, and is open to ‘adapting’ his tactics.

The coach said before kick-off that if he was going to fail, he wanted to “fail big,” and also hinted he was well aware that he might not get the time to see his vision through in full at San Siro.

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That seemed prescient, because he suffered the first defeat of his tenure after back-to-back Serie A draws with Juventus and Lazio, falling 2-0 at home to Benfica in the Europa League opener.

Dodi Lukebakio and Jakub Kaminski got the goals, as once again Milan failed to find the net in the first half and this time Amorim’s substitutions were unable to turn the situation around.

Amorim keeps seeing Milan problems

ITALY – SEPTEMBER 16: AC Milan coach Ruben Amorim looks on during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between AC Milan and SL Benfica at Stadio San Siro on September 16, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

“This conversation of my idea is to play football,” Amorim told Sky Sport Italia.

“To do that, we need to play the ball, but we are creating more problems for ourselves when we have the ball than when the opponent has it. We are trying to create the routines to have more possession in the box, we had some in the second half, but we are not creating, we lack creativity near the box.

“In the first half, when we conceded the goal, we totally lost control of what we were meant to be doing, we wanted to do it all so fast and without quality. If we look at the game, when we have the ball is when we need to be prepared for the danger, because we lose it dangerous situations for our goal.”

ITALY – SEPTEMBER 16: Davide Bartesaghi of AC Milan competes for the ball with Daniel Banjaqui of SL Benfica during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between AC Milan and SL Benfica at Stadio San Siro on September 16, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Why are Milan always having to chase the game or make up for a poor first half, is it a psychological issue with their initial approach?

“I don’t know if it’s a mental issue, but it’s the second match in a row where the first half we are not in the game,” confessed Amorim.

“We cannot concede this goal, because we still have a lot of problems to create chances, we get nervous, we get anxious, it all becomes more difficult.”

It was put to the coach that rather than worry about trouble scoring goals, shouldn’t he start with making them more solid at the back?

“Everything is connected, we are not really organised and if you see the first goal, we need to hold the position outside the box, and instead we let the player inside our area. We need to improve, because the chances that they create against us are when we lose the ball.

“We cannot concede these goals, we need to score first to take the game to a different level, because we don’t create many chances.”

ITALY – SEPTEMBER 16: AC Milan coach Ruben Amorim issues instructions to his players during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between AC Milan and SL Benfica at Stadio San Siro on September 16, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

The players are also quite static and don’t make the passes for anyone making runs.

“It’s true, especially in the first half, nobody was making runs behind, and when we have a team with two trequartista players, they have no space because nobody runs in behind them,” agreed Amorim.

“We talked about that at half-time. We need to look at all the game, we had started better after the break, but then we conceded a second goal, so they dropped back near the box and waited for us to go on the transition.”

ITALY – SEPTEMBER 16: AC Milan coach Ruben Amorim issues instructions to his player Goncalo Ramos during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between AC Milan and SL Benfica at Stadio San Siro on September 16, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Some of the choices raised eyebrows, including the fact Luka Modric spent the entire match on the bench, while Diego Moreira was dropped despite scoring two goals against Lazio.

“Rabiot did the first 90 minutes, we didn’t know if he could do it again, as it was his first time playing 90 minutes. It was the same thing with Pulisic, you now his history with injuries, he just played 45 minutes.

“Moreira didn’t train for two days as he had a personal matter, he didn’t work with the team, so there are situations that sometimes people don’t know.

“We need to improve as a team, it’s not just one or two players who aren’t playing, there are things we are not doing when we are in the box, even near the box, nobody goes into the box to meet the Chukwueze pass, for instance.

“We need to be more precise, we need to be more organised.”

ITALY – SEPTEMBER 16: Diego Moreira of AC Milan in action during the UEFA Europa League 2026/27 League Phase MD1 match between AC Milan and SL Benfica at Stadio San Siro on September 16, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Amorim is a lifelong Benfica supporter, and this is the first time that they have ever beaten Milan after two draws and four defeats, including the 1963 and 1990 European Cup Finals.

Antonio Conte was in the stands at San Siro as the crowd jeered for the final whistle, and the pressure is inevitably going to build on the coach, as his vision is nowhere to be seen in this performance.

Will he change his system or stick to his guns with that 3-4-2-1 formation?

“I change all the time, we need to start with a base, we have two months of work. We lost tonight, but we will find the solutions to adapt to these games, because we need to create an idea, but we also need to win, so of course we can adapt,” concluded Amorim.