Allegri was a guarantee of Champions League qualification, they said. Even knowing from before he signed to return to Milan that this was not necessarily true, I had hoped that he had one more 90 minutes left on his corto muso winning ticket. But the poetic justice was just too rich, Cagliari were too hungry to humiliate a team that required no more humiliation, and our players just too exhausted from another season of toxic management interfering with sporting success. And with Cagliari's 2-1 win over Milan at the San Siro on the final matchday, the final appearance for so many of our players, it ended like a toxic relationship that we could see coming, but we maybe just wanted to feel good one more time. Fans were left angry and hurt and despondent and numb, as we have become accustomed to with Gerald Cardinale's Milan. It's how the end always is.
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| We are all Modrić now... exhausted, hurt, angry, uncertain about the future. |
Allegri did the one thing that every manager who has ever lost big and destroyed their reputation at Milan has done: bench Leão. But for once, the match started out with hope, with Saelemaekers banging a goal home in just the second minute, assisted by Santi Gimenez. 1-0 Milan. It felt like it was going to be okay. Milan had Champions League qualification in their hands, after all. But it became very clear very quickly that Cagliari were not planning to just let Milan have it. Maignan was already having to work, which was not good.
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| The one bright spot in the match, Saelemaekers' early goal. |
It was only the 20th minute when Cagliari equalized through Borelli's goal. From a corner. Of course. 1-1 all. The fans, who were already protesting, grew silent. This was not the way the script was meant to be written. Milan answered back with shot attempts, but were simply not hitting the target. Even Maignan had a dangerous moment in the 37th where the ball slipped through his fingers, but Tomori was there to clear it.
As we watched this match many felt confident that Milan would win suddenly unravel and become yet another Allegri uncertainty before our very eyes, we watched images of our own Camarda celebrating with Lecce, who were managing to avoid the drop. The difference between our two fan bases could not be more different. San Siro was like a funeral, and Lecce fans were acting like they had won the league.
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| Maignan was decisive and 'pretty in pink,' but did he play his last Milan match for us? |
At halftime, Pulisic was subbed on for Santi. But the match stayed the same. In fact, Pavlović was given a yellow card for a foul on Esposito, the only Birthday gift he would receive in this match, unfortunately. In the 57th minute, Cagliari had a shot saved, and then Juan Rodriguez's header was the game winner. 2-1 Cagliari.
Maignan was shown yet another yellow card this season for talking to the ref, despite it being his job to do so as captain. It is very, very clear that in Italy, captains are allowed to say whatever they want to the refs unless you are a 6'3" Black captain. Then you get carded. Absolutely disgusting from the AIA.
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| That mask represented how he was stifled this season by Allegri's tactics. |
Allegri, out of ideas, and out of his depth against his former club, albeit in 14th place, threw on three subs in the 61st minute: Athekame, Füllkrug, and the masked Modrić, for Tomori, Nkunki and Jashari. It was clear that he was trying to get a goal, but not only did he not have any idea how to do that anymore, his tactics had strangled the goals out of all of the usual suspects as well, and the changes did not have the desired impact.
I mean, sure, Pulisic had a header right away that almost made it in, thanks to a great cross from Saelemaekers. But it wasn't until the 68th minute that Allegri released Leão, replacing Fofana. So he kept him on the bench, has made him play injured, and out of position, and now brings him on in a losing situation, whilst taking out one of the more important players who actually gets the ball forward into the box? If I didn't know better, it was almost as if he was setting Leão and the team up to fail.
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| Did we just watch Leão's last dance for Milan? |
At the other end, Maignan mad a huge double save in the 73rd minute. The only reason Cagliari did not win by a much bigger scoreline was thanks to our amazing goalkeeper. Rabiot did this thing that was a bicycle-like-kick what sent the ball over. Füllkrug was called for offside in the 78th minute. More Milan shots wide, and then Maignan had a fantastic save on a 1v1 with Mendy.
More Milan shots wide or blocked (credit to Cagliari's defense,) and the clock hit 90 minutes. Füllkrug's last action for Milan was being called yet again for being offside, and that was it. Well, Milan fans were obviously whistling. Very loudly. Despite achieving 70 points, we finished outside the top four for the first time, according to OptaPaolo. We started the match with Champions League qualification in our hands, even a draw would have been enough, and to just lose it in a match like that... I mean it was very on brand for Allegri, but so brutally painful for the team and the fans who deserve so much better.
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| Yes, Mister, you should be taking this failure very personally. |
What a horrible way to end the season, and particularly so for so many players who will not be returning. The Curva Sud began the night protesting management, specifically asking for Ibrahimović, Scaroni, Furlani, and Moncada to leave. While the Curva Sud have been protesting for two years now, some of them losing their right to renew their season tickets for said protesting, no matter what they have said or done, our arrogant, narcissistic, incompetent management have not listened. The audacity of them to continue to present our first kit for next season under these circumstances, spending more time promoting them than supporting the team is quite telling.
So many teams would be thrilled to have qualified for the Europa League, but for Milan, it will only serve as a reminder of how one of the "most winning" managers in Serie A took one of the strongest groups of players and managed to strangle the goals out of them, defeat their playing style, even get their defense to concede goals again. It will be a constant reminder that the toxic management, including the absentee owner, (even if he is determined to show up now,) put themselves and their egos ahead of the club and the needs of the team... again. And that will always hurt.
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| Excuse me, Mr. Cardinale, didn't you forget to fire somebody? The most toxic person of all? |
Not unlike his first summer truly in charge, when he unceremoniously sacked Maldini, in yet another brazen display of power and stupidity, Cardinale followed up this failure to qualify by firing everyone this time: Furlani, Moncada, Allegri, and Tare. Everyone except Ibrahimović (who had to be escorted to the parking lot by security after this match due to angry fans) and his buddy Kirovski, of course, who have perhaps done the most damage. Which, had it been premeditated and he had people ready to step into those roles, may have been a good idea, but he did not. Instead, he shoved Milan into a dark abyss with no leadership, no ability to make transfers in or out, and more uncertainties than ever before.
Who even knows which of our players will return next season? We don't know who our CEO, Technical Director, Sporting Director, or manager are now. As if losing like that when we started so strong wasn't bad enough, Gerald had to come in and make things even worse. It's the kind of ending that makes you long for the days when they only changed out 30 players in a summer or something. Yet each summer, just when you think they've hit rock bottom, they somehow manage to top the trauma for the fans from the last summer, they never disappoint. With this management, that is just how the end always is.
This post inspired by The Cure's Disintegration