Having won their first Scudetto in 11 seasons, Milan looked well on course for a title defence as they began the new year with an away win at Salernitana. In fact, Stefano Pioli’s side was challenging for four trophies at that point and had a realistic chance of emerging the winners on at least a couple of those fronts.
That they were leading 2-0 against Roma was hardly a surprise. Then Roger Ibañez and Tammy Abraham scored in the space of six minutes to deprive the home side of two points they seemed set to pocket. Milan got one point from that draw. They could have got three. The result was shambolic and symbolic. Shambolic owing to the manner in which the Rossoneri let their advantage slip, and symbolic because they are yet to recover from that shock.
Milan’s performances since then have been disappointing, and that is putting it mildly—and with due respect to their legion of fans. The defending champions have failed to win any of their four subsequent league fixtures. In fact, they have suffered from three defeats on the bounce, a 4-0 drubbing away against Lazio, followed by a 2-5 humiliation at home at the hands of Sassuolo. Then Inter got the better of them in the Derby della Madonnina.
In fact, Milan’s city rivals have been the biggest beneficiaries of this mid-season slump. Three weeks prior to their league win the Nerazzurri had also brushed aside the Rossoneri to win the Supercoppa Italiana, thereby ending the latter’s chances of a trophy. The poor run of results has also seen Pioli’s side lose to Torino, thereby ending their Coppa Italia hopes at the Round of 16 phase. Now this is a competition that Milan has not won for two decades now.
With no wins in seven matches, the defending champions have completely lost the plot in the last few weeks and have dropped from second to sixth in the table. In fact, they will have done remarkably well should they finish in the top six and qualify for Europe from hereon.
According to reports, Pioli is staying for the time being. Firing the manager will be the most obvious outcome, but not necessarily the right one. To be fair, the 57-year-old is the least of Milan’s problems. On the contrary, he deserves plaudits for doing his best with the resources at his disposal.
The problem with Milan is two-fold. At a micro-level, it has got to do with the players. The best Milan sides of the past all had one or more great leaders. From Cesare Maldini, Gianni Rivera and José Altafini in the 1960s to the trio of Dutchmen in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka at the turn of the millennium, the list is endless. Not to forget the eternally youthful trio of Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso, and Paolo Maldini.
The current squad has a few good players, and a lot of others who are happy to pick up their weekly wages without making a sincere effort to improve upon their contribution to the team’s cause. But there is no player in this Milan squad who can assume responsibility and lead from the front. With this ‘I’ aspect, missing Milan is in a ‘Mess’. The allusion here is palpably to the Argentine who not only single-handedly led a largely average Argentina side to the World Cup title in Qatar late last year but had also before that helped Barcelona maintain a certain consistency in terms of results, for many seasons at that.
Zlatan Ibrahimović can be considered as the last of the leaders in the Milan team. The enigmatic Swede inspired the Rossoneri to the Serie A title in 2011 before making an emotional return to Milan in December 2019, and playing an inspiring role both on and off the field—his presence was crucial to the team staying focused during the title run last season. That being said, Milan won the Scudetto not because it was a great team, but owing to the fact that they were the least erratic as also the most fortunate to benefit in a year where the other contenders suffered from manifold problems of their own.
Besides helping end their title, drought Zlatan also played a crucial role in ensuring Milan’s return to the Champions League. The Swede found the net on 15 occasions as the Rossoneri the 2020-21 season finished in second place, thereby ensuring their qualification to Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in seven years. While they went out of the group stages on that occasion, this season they have made it to knockout rounds.
That being said, with Zlatan in the twilight of his career and yet to play in this season, Milan has been forced to exclude him from their squad for the knockout phase. To expect anything other than a decision to retire from an almost 42-year-old will be a bit too far-fetched.
Apart from Zlatan, Olivier Giroud is also a consistent performer, but at 36, he too is slowly getting over the hill. The veteran duo apart, Rafael Leão, Simon Kjaer and Théo Hernandez, have been the most consistent of players for Milan. But to expect them to assume the leader’s mantle is again a preposterous idea. Not to forget a lot, many players in this Milan are either on loan or those that failed to make an impact at other clubs, and consequently got themselves offloaded. Most of them don’t have a slightest of clues as regards what it is like to play for a club with a glorious history and rich legacy like Milan.
Now let’s focus on the problem that Milan faces at a macro level. The onus is entirely on the ownership in this case. When a storied football club is sold to a group hailing from countries with little to no football history, the end result is more often than not a disaster. For them, the club’s ownership is only a status symbol. They seldom bother about the overall growth of the club simply because they neither understand football nor give a dime to the legacy of the club. How else does one explain a seven-time European champion taking seven years to qualify for the Champions League, and then failing to feature in seven matches?
What Milan’s recent owners have understood is business and financial matters. As such, the main motive is to cut operational costs and make profits. The option to sell is always there. Unfortunately for the fans, this has been the club’s situation since Silvio Berlusconi relinquished ownership. There has been no concerted effort since to sort out the finances, make smart acquisitions, take the club forward and preserve its legacy. To pacify the fans, a statement signing is made, with little or no thought going towards making such acquisitions.
If the move works out well, things get covered up for some time. If it doesn’t, the player is either sold or loaned and alternatives are searched for. Charles De Ketelaere was the big-name acquisition ahead of this season, Milan paying €35mn to Club Brugge for his signature. If the Belgian makes an impact in the long run remains to be seen the verdict at present is anything but positive. In fact, he is rather unwantedly another personification of Milan’s haphazard transfer business, something that has been hurting the club for over a decade now.
As things stand, the Rossoneri lack owners who can run the club putting passion ahead of profit, players who can feel the real pride in wearing a Milan shirt and a leader that can take up responsibility and single-handedly inspire the team. Till these issues are addressed, Milan will continue to be in a mess, irrespective of one good performance or two.