What worked well for years doesn’t work at all today. We are going through a very difficult moment and all I feel today is pain. Nothing works out for us – said Stefano Pioli after the match with Sassuolo (2: 5). A week later, the Milan coach could repeat his words, because the Italian champions failed again. This time in the Milan derby.
Pioli could not use Mike Maignan, Fikayo Tomori, Ismael Bennacer or . But that doesn’t excuse much, because Milan was just a backdrop for Inter. He had big problems with creating offensive situations and mainly defended behind double guard.
In the 34th minute, Inter broke the wall. Hakan Calhanoglu made a great center from a corner kick and Lautaro Martinez showed off a beautiful header. For the 25-year-old Argentine, it was already the 12th goal of the season. Only Napoli’s Victor Osimhen has more goals in Serie A with 16.
Lautaro also found the net in the 89th minute after a clever header from Romelu Lukaku, but Martinez was offside. A few minutes earlier, a great opportunity to equalize was wasted by Olivier Giroud, who stood eye to eye with the goalkeeper, but skiked when receiving the ball.
In the end, Inter won 1-0 and moved away from Milan by five points. Napoli are 13 points ahead of Simone Inzaghi’s team.
Milan crisis
In January, Milan won just one of their seven matches, losing any chance of defending their title, crashing out of the Coppa Italia and taking a thrashing in the derby with Inter (0-3) for the Italian Super Cup. February started with a failure.
Six games without a win in a row is Milan’s worst series under Pioli, who has been working at San Siro since October 2019. The team looks particularly bad in defense, and the defense has more dramatic statistics.
Until recently, the Italian was carried on his hands in Milan. It was he who built the team that regained the national championship for Milan after an 11-year break. Today, Pioli divides fans and journalists. Some defend him, pointing to the injuries and fatigue of the players and the lack of reinforcements. Others see him as the main culprit in the team’s problems. You can read more about the crisis of Milan.
What awaits Milan?
In the next round, the rivals of the Italian champion are Torino. In mid-February, Milan will play the first match of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League with Tottenham, and at the end of the month, they will have a league match with Atalanta, with which Pioli’s team will fight for a place in the top four of the table.
Source: Sport.PL
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
