GdS: ‘Rossonero inferno’ – Milan directors give squad pre-derby ‘dressing down’

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·31 January 2025

GdS: ‘Rossonero inferno’ – Milan directors give squad pre-derby ‘dressing down’

AC Milan are no strangers to the idea of a crisis given how things have gone since the title-winning season, and the management want to avoid a new one.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport report this morning, the blow of losing to Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday was one that was hard to take. Why? For starters, a lot of money disappeared (at least for now) that qualification for the round of 16 would have guaranteed.

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However, it also made Milan fall back into the swing of positive and negative results. Above all, it hurt because in Zagreb the Rossoneri deservedly lost against an inferior team at the end of a performance to forget.

A night to forget

The faces of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Geoffrey Moncada as they left the Stadion Maksimir spoke for themselves, but Giorgio Furlani – in front of the TV in Milano, where he remained – wasn’t amused either.

This is why yesterday afternoon the senior advisor of RedBird, the CEO and the technical director went to Milanello. With their presence they wanted to make the team understand that the club is not at all happy with the wasted opportunity in Croatia, but that their faith remains.

The minimum goal is now qualification for the next Champions League, which has been made clear by now. There was no speech inside the dressing room by the management: Conceiçao spoke to the players, underlining the many mistakes made especially in a horror first half.

However, Ibra, Furlani and Moncada took stock of the situation with the former Porto coach and then attended the session, exchanging a few words with some individuals.

Group in difficulty

During the talks with Conceiçao, the directors naturally spoke about transfers and orchestrating the next moves, but inevitably they started from what everyone had seen a few hours earlier in Zagreb, that is a defeat to a team third in the Croatian league.

Conceiçao is certainly not a rookie coach and in his career he has spent a long time at a historic club like Porto, getting used to winning in his homeland. And yet, he can’t understand why a group like the one he leads now can enter the pitch looking as they did in a decisive match for the Champions League.

Something similar had never happened to him and even his constant stimuli (remember the reference to the ’empty refrigerator’ after the defeat in Turin?) were clearly not received. This worries him, but he has no intention of giving up also because he has had little time to influence the minds of his men.

The problem is that the situation will not improve in a February in which there will be five league games (including the game in hand against Bologna), a Coppa Italian meeting with Roma and the two Champions League play-off matches.

Motivations

Ibrahimovic, Furlani and Moncada share the analysis made on Wednesday in the press conference by Conceiçao, in which he said: “You can change coach and the best in the world can come, but it’s still difficult. I try to do something from the bench, but the problem is the base It’s difficult to play a Champions League match like this, like we did.”

They encouraged the individuals they met before and after the session by reiterating that they didn’t expect a performance like the one against Dinamo. In view of Sunday’s derby they hope that the team does not make a mistake in its approach, but in theory it shouldn’t have happened on Wednesday.

Did some players unconsciously underestimate the occasion and the opponents? It’s difficult to imagine so, because it was clear what Milan were aiming for in Zagreb, direct access to the round of 16 and the possibility of training (and resting) more in February.

Conceiçao, on the other hand, saw players who didn’t give everything, who didn’t have the right mentality. What worries him are the improvements in terms of play that did not arrive after the Supercoppa victory.

There has been some progress, but not enough to make his first month with the Rossoneri satisfactory. Then there are entire halves almost surrendered to the opponents, and if that happens on Sunday it will not be well received.