The mathematical qualification arrived four days early Champions Leaguethe fourth in a row for Milan of Stefano Pegs. A qualification that three years ago was celebrated like a scudetto on the last day against Atalanta while this year, in addition to having already been known for some time, it seems only the outline of a failed season.
This alone may be enough to understand the Rossoneri’s step forward in what is and must be the right mentality to win. It is not enough to be satisfied with the minimum objective – are we sure that it is the minimum objective for everyone? – but you always have to aim high. Closing the season without any trophy or in any case without fighting until the end represented normality for many until a few years ago, but now it is considered a failure.
A failure by virtue of the scudetto won two years ago, the Champions League semi-final won last year, but also due to the fact that for four seasons now Milan has consistently been at the top of the table. Something unthinkable until not so long ago. In the pre-covid era, winning even just the last available place in the Champions League was like winning a championship. Today, achieving the arithmetic qualification with four days to go is a small consolation after a month with more pain than joy.
A season for many to throw away but which, analyzing it with the bowls stopped, wasn’t that much worse than others, especially in the Rossoneri’s recent past. A series of unfortunate and disastrous events got in the way and meant that some results that may even be part of normality in a season, weighed like rocks.
If only someone had tried to think of Milan’s season as the setting for a dramatic film, they wouldn’t have been able to draw it better.
Let’s start with the long-missed Champions League with a group that previously seemed to be made of iron but has now become tremendously within reach, so much so that it has kept qualification open until the last minutes of the last day. 8 points won, the same as Paris Saint Germain semi-finalist and three shy of Borussia Dortmund, also a semi-finalist. Leaving out of a group with two of Europe’s big four for some details hurts but also makes you think.
Even the elimination fromEuropa Leaguein the quarterfinals, at the hands of Rome it is a tragicomic scene that leads Milan to their second consecutive European elimination against an Italian rival. Singular, isn’t it? Evidently for the Rossoneri it is a constant that is repeated more than frequently.
And then we come to the climax of the season. The second star derby. That theInter we have known for months that he would have won the scudetto, but the fact that he would have done so in the derby at Milan’s home is a twist of fate that makes the Rossoneri’s season even worse. Six derbies lost out of six, the championship mathematically won by their cousins and a second star sewn to their chest after a clear superiority that is starting to become normal.
Reading just these three paragraphs and just looking at the last period of Milan’s season, anyone would say that the Rossoneri have taken more than a step backwards compared to last year.
In reality, not everything has to be thrown away and something could even be saved for next season. At the moment – with four games still to play – Milan have nine points more than they did in 2022-23 at this point of the season but above all they have already equaled the points gained (70) in the entire last championship after 34 games. And after 34 games the mathematical qualification for the Champions League also arrived. A bitter consolation after the defeats suffered. However, this too, above all this, can and must make us reflect: if what we are looking for is mentality, this is the right path.
