GdS: How comebacks have become Milan’s main weapon under Conceicao

SempreMilan

·9 de mayo de 2025

GdS: How comebacks have become Milan’s main weapon under Conceicao

It is never ideal when you find yourself behind during a game, but AC Milan have had a knack for engineering turnarounds this season.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport write, to call it a real game plan would be wide of the mark. However, it’s not too far-fetched to image that Milan, next Wednesday, at a certain point in the match, could find themselves in the position of playing for the Coppa Italia with the need to come from behind.

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For better and (above all) for worse, there are some constants in the Rossoneri season and one of them is going behind regularly, with goals often conceded in the first quarter of an hour of the match, due to macroscopic defensive lapses.

The good lies in the ability to react, and there have been plenty of clues: Conceiçao, as confirmed and demonstrated by the victory over Genoa, is a comeback expert. Resilience is a great quality, with one contraindication: with a little more foresight beforehand, less of it would be needed.

The ability to react

Many things have been said – or rather, seen – about Milan this year. Congested play, tactical fraying, glaring errors by individuals and departments, deplorable behaviour by some players. Despite Conceiçao not being able to provide the surge towards the top four, one thing is clear.

Although Sergio is a tough coach in the locker room, no one has ever – as they say in these cases – played against him. The proof is in the numbers: Milan have obtained 19 points from losing positions in this league season, more than any other team.

The vast majority of those points have come with the Portuguese at the helm. With him, the games recovered from a disadvantage are eight, two of which – Juventus and Inter – have already brought home the Supercoppa Italiana.

There have also been times when the team has not made it, despite trying, because this is the great limitation of the whole affair: winning in a comeback is exhilarating, but it is not an exact science. Conceiçao himself had said how his Milan could not always be reduced to chasing.

Photo by Simone Arveda/Getty Images

Summoning extra energy

In practical terms, this squad may not be exactly Scudetto-worthy, but not so botched as to concede all these goals to opponents, especially so early. Moreover, the recent approach of sitting patiently and trying to play on the counter-attack has provided better results but infuriates San Siro.

Comebacks and counter-attacks go against what fans want to see, which is comfortably wins and attacking from minute one. Conceicao knows though that you have to make a virtue of necessity, hence the change to a three-man defence.

Conceiçao has not provided his team with a better style of play than Paulo Fonseca, at least aesthetically, but he has given them the fighting spirit which kicks in at a certain point. Apathetic and indecent first halves are often followed by intense and ferocious second halves.

It also means that there are no problems on an athletic level. There can’t be any in a team that sometimes finds itself transported en masse into the final third of the opponent’s pitch until injury time.

What in the first half of the match seem like weak legs are actually legs that the head doesn’t offer the right convictions to. And then, of course, there are also the substitutions. In Genoa they were decisive, and it has happened other times.

Conceiçao often gets it right. It has happened in crucial moments like with Juve in the Supercoppa, for example. Comeback spirit, energy and substitutions: for the final act of the Coppa Italia, Milan is preparing its sharpest weapons.