GdS: ‘What a gift’ – how Milan and the ‘Fantastic 4’ became ‘shipwrecked’ in Rotterdam

SempreMilan

·13 février 2025

GdS: ‘What a gift’ – how Milan and the ‘Fantastic 4’ became ‘shipwrecked’ in Rotterdam

There is still 90 minutes of the tie to go, but AC Milan must show a big improvement if they are to overturn the deficit at San Siro and beat Feyenoord.

La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning how Milan were ‘shipwrecked in a vat of softness and presumption’. They faced a Feyenoord side who had just sold their best player and sacked their manager on Monday, yet emerged empty handed.

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Perhaps everything seemed too easy for the Rossoneri and they demonstrated it with a poor approach from minute one, giving away the match-winning goal after just three minutes played. It was a gift from Mike Maignan, but the hosts deserved the lead after an intense first half.

It’s like the defeat in Zagreb taught nothing. All the sins that Sergio Conceiçao had reproached his side for – little hunger, not enough aggression, lost duels – were seen again yesterday. If this Milan only once, between November and December, had three victories in a row, there must be a reason.

The team seems to light up in the difficult moments, with its back against the wall (the derby, the win at the Bernabeu and the Supercoppa are examples), and when instead they need to show consistency they shut down. A victory over Empoli cannot be enough.

It was supposed to be the night of the Fantastic 4, the confirmation of their strength and sustainability, but they failed the test and now the Diavolo have it all to do back at San Siro. The tie remains open, though a different level of performance will be needed.

Paixao causes problems

The first thing not to do against a team disheartened by a crisis is give them the chance to get back up. Milan gifted them a goal after three minutes, with Mike Maignan making a blunder on a shot he should have kept out.

A few seconds earlier, Tijjani Reijnders had missed a big chance to drain the life out of the red-hot atmosphere by almost passing a shot back to the goalkeeper when in space on the edge of the box. It would be a symbol of Milan’s ‘softness’.

And if you are soft, without the desire to press and fight for every second ball, there was no chance the 4-2-4 would work. In fact, at half-time, Conceiçao shouted at Joao Felix who didn’t press and Rafael Leao who was listless. He sent Samuel Chukwueze to warm up.

It’s not that Feyenoord had transformed into the Ajax of the 1970s, but Paixao – with the number 14 on his back – was a bit like Cruijff. He gave Kyle Walker a torrid night and was a thorn in the side of the Rossoneri all night, hitting the crossbar just before the break.

The Dutch side – who are fifth in their league – did the simple things, like always doubling up on the wings and putting all their hunger into every duel. They did leave space at times as a result of the aggressive press, yet Milan didn’t know what to do with it.

Fab Four failure

After a quarter of an hour of the second half, Conceiçao put Chukwueze on for a rather subdued Christian Pulisic and then Fikayo Tomori for Malick Thiaw, who was on a yellow card and appeared out of breath.

Fatigue seemed to hit the home side with around 15-20 minutes left as they exhausted by a performance that had exceeded their limits so they retreated. They stood on the edge of the box, fighting on the barricades.

Milan finally advanced, but the forwards didn’t create anything and only Joao Felix remained of the ‘Fantastic Four’ because Conceiçao also took off Santiago Gimenez and Leao in the desperate assault. Felix had the only threatening shot, while Feyenoord had a couple of dangerous counters.

Pascal Bosschaart was the coach of Feyenoord Under 21s on Monday, yesterday he led the team he was a player for and made his Champions League debut by beating Milan. Now, the Rossoneri must show up at San Siro passionate and worthy of the history that represents him. Yesterday they didn’t.