Milan are out of European competitions next season... again. (This time for sure.) Ironically, both clubs are owned by Americans, and both fan groups have been protesting their owners and asking them to leave. But Gerald Cardinale has been the most successful at taking such a successful, valuable, historic club, and drastically changing its sporting fortunes in such a short period of time. He bought the club after they won a Scudetto and were back in the Champions League, and three years later, they will finish in ninth place in Serie A with no European competition at all next year. Roma defeated Milan 3-1 in this match, with a little help from their local authorities and the referee team. But even without the assists, Milan had less than a 5% chance of qualifying for Europe going into this match, thanks to Gerald and his incompetent management. Not that he cares about Milan's Champions League history, but now our storied club (and an American) is out of Europe.
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| "You know what you did." |
It was no coincidence that Milan fans were banned from attending this match. Rona fans slashed Milan supporters' tires, although the Roma police were supposedly guarding them, they fought with Milan fans, and stole jerseys from Milan fans, but it was Milan's Curva Sud who were immediately banned for this match... almost as if the press release was already written in advance or something. Then they quickly extended it to include all Milan fans.
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| The cards were stacked against Milan to begin with. |
First of all, nothing moves that fast in Italy, least of all in Serie A. But even more impressively, in just three days, they were able to re-sell all of the seats Milan fans had purchased to Roma fans, many of whom had giant Roma flags. How convenient. (I wonder if they were the people who slashed Milan fans' tired on Wednesday? Or were they just the Roma Police charged with guarding those cars?) And how incredibly (and suspiciously) efficient for Italy and Serie A. And what a weird coincidence that in a match that was so important to the race for European spots, Roma suddenly had a 100% Roma stadium, with zero Milan supporters. That's not an advantage at all.
So it was in this atmosphere that the match kicked off, and Roma's most despicable player, Gianluca Mancini, scored from a corner in just the third minute. After Wednesday, after this whole season, this was absolutely not the start we needed. But it seemed like our players were not ready to take all this lying down, they were ready to fight against all odds. And by fight, I mean literally. Like how João Félix didn't exactly avoid contact with Roma's goalkeeper, Svilar, but instead shoved him.
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| João Félix wanted justice in this match. |
They did fight with their football, too. A few minutes after a Soulé attempt went just wide of Maignan's goal, Álex Jiménez had a great chance that was so close, but went just wide. And then, Milan's luck kicked in. The vile Mancini must have been bullying Santi Gimenez, who elbowed him in the chest. I am not condoning this behavior. He was wrong to do this. However, having seen Beukema get away with it on Wednesday, after having called the ref's attention to it and pleading their case, he may have also thought he would get away with it.
Little did our young striker know that referees check the crest on the shirt before they determine the punishment. Piccinini, who had also reffed our most recent match vs. Roma in the Coppa Italia (after Mariani was the same ref for a second consecutive Bologna match on Wednesday) was called by Mazzoleni in the VAR booth to look at this incident. Mazzoleni was also in the VAR booth on Wednesday, as the assistant VAR referee, the ones who decided not to award Beukema with a red card for this exact same foul.
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| If Santi Gimenez was sent off on Sunday, why wasn't Beukema sent off on Wednesday? |
After an on field review, it was clear from Mancini's delayed theatrics that Santi Gimenez had to be sent off, so he was shown a straight red card. Although not actually so clear, considering Beukema had not been sent off on Wednesday. Milan would now play 70 minutes on 10 men in an important match in the race for European spots. This made Milan's job even more difficult, but also in a way, galvanized the team to fight harder.
Meanwhile, on Monday, on the show Open VAR, referee designator and embarrassment to the refereeing community, Gianluca Rocchi, admitted that Beukema should have been sent off on Wednesday, it was an error. No apologies, no mentions of any suspensions or consequences for the referees, no apparent concerns that it was a final, with a trophy and a title on the line, as well as a Europa League spot and an extra €2.5 million in prize money, Just an "Oops, we did it again, now let's move on."
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| Gabbia was the victim of violence and injustice on Wednesday, but still fought in this match. |
The incident happened before Bologna scored, and they would have played the entire second half on ten men. Do they seriously expect us to believe that result is valid? Let alone fair? That loss changes everything for us, we will probably have a fire sale on our best players this summer and no Europe next year. And Rocchi will still be the man in charge of the corrupt Italian Referee Association (AIA.) Why does VAR even exist? Why are we even playing these matches if this level of incompetence/corruption is determining the results anyway? How is this even sport? And where is our club in all of this? Only Conceição spoke up about it.
Unlike the Bologna match, though, when the ref calls went against them, Milan did not let it get to them or let their heads drop. Roma thought they had done enough, getting the Milan supporters banned, and getting a player sent off. But Milan almost looked the better team on ten men in the first half, clearly anxious to avenge their many injustices. And the next one to be carded was the contemptible, antagonizing thug, Mancini, who received a yellow card for fouling João Félix.
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| Saelemaekers in the background and Reijnders up front is such a metaphor for real life. |
While Saelemaekers seemed intent on scoring against his parent club, his weak shot was easily saved by Maignan. But João Félix, who scored his first Milan goal in the Coppa Italia against Roma, did not make that mistake. After Álex Jiménez's shot was saved, João Félix took the rebound on the volley and put it past Svilar for the equalizer. 1-1 all, and Milan did it on 10 men.
Another former Milan player, Cristante, who deserted the club way too early in his career, also was shown a yellow card, for fouling Loftus-Cheek. Both Saelemaekers and Mancini missed their shots, and that was all for the first half. But the second half would prove much more difficult to maintain the level of play on 10 vs. 11.
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| João Félix scored an equalizer, but it was not enough. |
After a couple of warning shots, Paredes scored a goal in the 58th minute. 2-1 Roma. Then things started getting messy. Çelik was carded for fouling Pavlović. Then Álex Jiménez was shown a yellow card for dissent for not getting a foul called, right after Reijnders ran into Piccinini himself. And Paredes was also shown a yellow card for dissent. It was a festival of yellow cards.
I think that's when Conceição decided it was time to make some changes and get some fresh legs out there, too. So he sent Jović, Fofana, and Rafa Leão on for Loftus-Cheek, Álex Jiménez, and João Félix. Leão started doing what he does best... making trouble for the opposition. In the 79th, he forced Svilar into a big save, then a few minutes later, sent a shot just wide.
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| Álex Jiménez nearly scored twice, he caused Roma all kinds of problems. |
Sottil replaced Gabbia in the 84th minute in an attacking substitution from Conceição. Jović also headed a shot just wide, yet nothing was going Milan's way. But on 10 men for 70 minutes and with no fans, how could it? So it was not a huge surprise when in the 87th, Maignan made a massive double save, only to concede a goal to that former Milan deserter, Cristante. 3-1.
Tomori was shown a yellow card for a foul on Angeliño, our players were just exhausted. And in the ultimate "white flag" substitution, Conceição subbed Terracciano on for Pulisic. The match was over anyway. Except it wasn't. Manu Koné stuck his leg out and fouled Sottil while also clotheslining him with his arm, an absolute free kick situation, if not a yellow card. But Piccinini did not call anything, and instead let play continue until Terracciano made a technical foul on Manu Koné, and Roma were given a free kick instead.
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| How was it exactly that Milan had a player and manager sent off with these kind of fouls? |
That was too much for Conceição, who has been known to have a temper and received some epic red cards before. But this one was not epic. He said somethng the fourth official didn't like, and told Piccinini, and of course, Conceição was sent off. Nevermind that he was right to be upset. Milan deserved the free kick, and Sottil was fouled hard.
In the 93rd minute of the penultimate match of the season, he was sent off. I had joked about looking forward to a legendary Conceição red card on a recent podcast, and even this was a let down, because Piccinini was applying an absurd double standard here. Simone Inzaghi commits multiple red card offenses every match, and is rarely sent off. Yet Conceição barely showed any anger in comparison, and now he misses the last match of the season.
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| Has Conceição coached his last Milan match? |
If we had an owner or management who were real men, they would have defended our team, our players, our manager. But they said nothing. The same cowards who used a back entrance for the 125th anniversary party to avoid angry fans also left Conceição to defend Santi, the players, and himself. Again. Even though if they were capable of doing their jobs, this team should have easily qualified for Europe, bad referee calls or not.
And Milan, once again, when a result was needed to qualify for Europe, had another individual disciplinary issue that impacted the result. But if Cardinale were half the man he thinks he is, he would stop playing with his balls and stand up for his team. For example, a real American would sue the AIA for damages after the refereeing error in the Coppa Italia final. But Cardinale is not half the man he thinks he is, and that is actually the biggest reason that the American is out of Europe.
Stay tuned for an all new Milan Obsession Podcast
Campionato Primavera 1 Playoffs
Serie A Week 38
Reviewed by Elaine
on
5:00 AM
Rating:
