GdS: ‘Only the Champions League remains’ – Milan left with one thing to fight for | OneFootball

AC Milan have found themselves in a situation before the end of November where the only objective to fight for is the Champions League, a report claims.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport writes this morning, Paulo Fonseca reiterated after the 0-0 draw against Juventus that he continues to believe in Milan’s chances of winning the Scudetto, but the table tells a different story.

The Rossoneri have a game in hand to play against Bologna, but a double-digit gap (10 points) from league-leaders Napoli and a nine-point gap to fourth (and fifth) means that Inter, Atalanta, Fiorentina and Lazio are running away.

This is why from now on at Milanello practicality and realism will take the place of dreams. The diktat is to think about one game at a time and therefore focus only on the away match against Slovan Bratislava.

A win could allow Milan – who started their European campaign with defeats against Liverpool and Leverkusen – to target direct qualification for the last 16 with a top eight finish. The calendar helps too, with games against Red Star (home), Girona (home) and Dinamo Zagreb (away) to follow.

Getting directly to the last 16 would allow the Rossoneri to collect over €20m from UEFA (the money from four victories and the €11m from getting to the knockouts) plus the box office revenues and the market pool.

For the club, it would also mean redeeming the fact they didn’t get there last season. For the squad, it would mean two less games (the play-off matches) in the month of February, in which there will be the game in hand against Bologna and the possible quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.