Milan squandered a massive opportunity to bring an exhausting seven-year wait for Champions League football to a halt on Sunday night. The Rossoneri froze under the San Siro lights against 16th-placed Cagliari, managing an utterly disappointing scoreless draw.
Three consecutive victories over Benevento, Juventus, and Torino brought Milan on the cusp of securing a long-awaited top-four finish in Serie A. All Stefano Pioli’s men needed to do was to defeat the side that were fighting relegation until earlier today.
However, the very same team that put three unanswered goals past Juventus a week ago and scored seven against Torino in midweek failed to create a single clear-cut chance against Cagliari. The same Cagliari side they had outscored in four successive Serie A meetings by an aggregate score of 10-0 before tonight.
Following a dazzling performance at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino on Wednesday, the future looked bright for Milan again. But something went wrong for the Rossoneri on Sunday evening.
In the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Lombard giants desperately needed someone to step up and take responsibility in the most significant domestic fixture in the past few years. Unfortunately for Milan supporters, no one seemed to be up to the task.
Diogo Dalot, who replaced Davide Calabria just after the hour mark, sparked Milan’s game a bit with some bursting runs down the right flank and a few decent crosses. The Portuguese full-back also had a couple of vital interventions at the back in an overall solid cameo display.
During the post-match interview, Dalot couldn’t hide his frustration for a disastrous team performance that cast doubt on Milan’s hopes of securing a top-four finish.
“We played badly. We are not happy with what we did. Now head down and pedal towards a true Champions League match,” the Manchester United loanee said, as relayed by MilanNews.
“We have a week to go and show what was missing today: we needed calm, maturity. Now we can only work towards Sunday to win the final on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, Pioli admitted his side failed to live up to expectations but slammed Leonardo Semplici’s defensive approach.
“A team that came from such exhilarating, convinced, and confident performances had to keep playing. We tried to be a team to the end. We lacked choices, quality, pace, and when the game got complicated, everything became more delicate,” he told TUTTOmercatoWEB.
“Cagliari played their game: everyone behind the ball and 11 men in the middle of the pitch; individual plays, one-on-one situations, and set pieces could be fundamental: we did not find the necessary starting point to go ahead.“