CM: ‘Failure is forbidden’ – why Club Brugge game is an ‘already a watershed’ for Milan | OneFootball

Paulo Fonseca claimed on the eve of the game against Club Brugge that it is ‘very important’ but not decisive for AC Milan’s Champions League hopes, and looking at the table it is easy to see why.

Calciomercato.com write how tonight’s match at San Siro is ‘already a watershed of the season’ and is key to aiming for the round of 16 of the new UEFA Champions League. The victory of desire and sacrifice against Udinese certainly served to restore morale after the defeat against Fiorentina, but now it must be followed up in Europe.

For Fonseca’s side there is a double mission: to restart – or rather to start – in Europe and seek consistency, in results and performances. Milan are one of eight teams (RB Leipzig, Girona, Sturm Graz, Red Star, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava and Young Boys being the others) who are without a point yet, and that must change.

It is not a definitive verdict clearly and the start for the Rossoneri was immediately uphill with two top-level opponents in Liverpool and the German champions Bayer Leverkusen, but there is nonetheless a huge importance in moving off zero.

The trio of victories against Venezia, Inter and Lecce had made fans think that the worst was behind them and that Milan’s season had really begun, a belief swept away by the defeats in Leverkusen and Florence. They came in different ways, but contributed to stopping any momentum dead.

There are only four points that currently separate Milan from the top eight positions and a study has shown that 15 points would give a good chance of automatically getting into the last 16. With Real Madrid in the next round but then Slovan Bratislava, Red Star, Girona and Dinamo Zagreb, there remains a chance.

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Of course if Milan were to finish in the 16 teams between 9th and 24th place they would play for the chance to get into the next stage, so all would not be lost, yet there must come a time where the team prove that they can go deep into the competition.

Given the current situation, it goes without saying that it is essential for Milan to obtain a victory against Club Brugge, a tricky opponent but undoubtedly less intimidating in terms of prestige, quality of the squad and performance this season than Liverpool or Leverkusen.

“Milan and Fonseca know it, that’s why the meeting with Club Brugge is already a watershed in which failure is forbidden: winning becomes crucial to fuel European ambitions,” the report ends.