AC Milan are still dreaming of the Scudetto – but is their revival sustainable? | OneFootball

This time last week the Serie A title race looked all but decided. Inter were cruising 10 points clear and looked destined to win their 21st Scudetto.

A win in the Derby della Madonnina would have sealed the title. A former Brighton full-back had other ideas.

Pervis Estupinan scored the winner, marking the first time since the 2010-11 season that Milan had beaten their bitter rivals twice in the same league season.

The Rossoneri have enjoyed a ‘renaissance’ under the stewardship of Massimiliano Allegri, having only lost two league games and currently having conceded the fewest goals (20) in the division.

The appointment of Allegri certainly felt like an uninspired choice to some of the Milanisti faithful. The 58-year-old was unattached following the end of his second stint at Juventus in 2024.

His return to Turin had been marked by a pragmatic, uninspiring style of football that failed to re-establish Juve as the dominant force of the campionato.

Certain caveats, like the resignation of the entire board in 2022 and a ten-point deduction that Juve were handed, do give some room for sympathy for Allegri’s shortcomings.

The American owners of Milan instead banked on the fact that he’d won 11 major honours in Italian football, including a league title with Milan in 2011.

Milan recorded their lowest points tally of the century in the 2013-14 season, with Allegri being sacked mid-way through the campaign.

After three seasons with no European football, they eventually returned to the Champions League in 2021. Yet since winning the league the following year, they regressed.

Failure to replace key players such as Frank Kessie, Olivier Giroud and Sandro were followed by spending hefty transfer fees on talented youngsters like Charles De Ketelaere, Noah Okafor, Samuel Chukwueze and Yunus Musah.

However, all four were eventually moved on as they failed to establish themselves at the San Siro.

Three years after being crowned champions, the great AC Milan were spending their season sacking two different managers and mustering a mere eighth-place finish in the league, whilst getting knocked out in the Champions League by Feyenoord.

This season has been largely about making Milan competitive in Serie A and laying the foundations for this success to be sustained.

Allegri is proving to be the reset that the seven-time European champions needed.

He has built a team that is tough to beat and aims to score on the counterattack, exploiting the pace and dribbling of players like Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao.

He has managed to reinvigorate players like Fikayo Tomori and Alexis Saelemaekers, players who played a big part in the Scudetto win of 2022.

The Englishman played just over 1,600 minutes last season despite being fit, while the Belgian spent the past two seasons being loaned out to Bologna and Roma.

This season, they have played the most minutes out of any outfield players. The other players that have proved instrumental to Max Allegri’s 3-5-2 formation are midfield pair Adrien Rabiot and 40-year-old Luka Modric.

The Croatian has only missed one of AC Milan’s league fixtures and ranks third for minutes played amongst outfield players, even scoring two decisive match-winning goals.

Rabiot, meanwhile, arrived as a surprise signing late in the summer window after his abrupt exit from Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille.

The Frenchman has also ranked more than 2,000 minutes this season and has started 19 of the 20 games he has been available for.

It should be mentioned that Modric hasn’t played this many minutes for the past five seasons and that the long-term future of the team will require additional midfield depth to be added.

The main criticism towards Allegri continues to be that his team is too pragmatic and does not have much threat going forward.

The reality is that Milan have scored 20 fewer goals than Inter and rank fourth for goals per match with a figure of 1.6 goals per match. Inter on the other hand has an average of 2.3 goals scored per match (FotMob).

In other words, Inter typically score more than two goals every game whereas Milan are more likely to struggle to score more than once.

A glaring issue that this Milan side is facing is the absence of a good striker. Someone who can offer a strong presence in the box, occupy the centre-backs and provide a reference point for crosses.

In fairness, they signed Niclas Fullkrug from West Ham on loan, but his progress at the club has been hampered by a reported toe injury.

As a result, the 33-year-old is unlikely to be signed permanently, having scored one goal thus far and starting only one game, away at Fiorentina.

That particular game required a 90th-minute intervention from Christopher Nkunku for a point to be salvaged.

The Frenchman has only started 11 of the 22 games he has played in and the goal against Fiorentina was only his second non-penalty goal.

For a €42million fee, the 28-year-old has certainly flattered to deceive.

The other major issue that they have is squad depth. Their two top scorers, Leao (9 goals) and Pulisic (8 goals, both have been playing through injury this season and have only started six games together, half of them being the last three games Milan played.

Allegri wanted them to form Milan’s strike partnership this season, but the injury issues in the squad have forced Allegri to constantly change the striker partnership, even having to play Ruben Loftus-Cheek up front.

It is for some of these reasons why Milan are left with a mountain to climb regarding the title race.

They have lost three fewer games than Inter, yet the Nerazzuri have won five more. That is attributed to losing at home to both Cremonese and Parma and dropping points to teams fighting relegation like Fiorentina, Genoa and bottom of the table Pisa.

If Milan wants to continue improving, they will have to do better in breaking down low blocks whilst also re-adjusting to playing three games per week.

Time will tell whether Allegri is merely a stopgap manager or the man capable of restoring Milan’s domestic competitiveness.