MILAN had all to play for in the 2nd leg of the 2013/2014 Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid, having lost the 1st leg 1-0 at home in the dying moments of the game due to a defensive lapse and great reflexes from Diego Costa.
The game couldn’t have started any worse for the Rossoneri when Atletico’s talisman striker Costa found the back of the net in the 3rd minute of the game, thanks to lackluster defending again. The goal was conceded after midfielder Michael Essien cheaply lost the ball on the left flank and never tracked back.
Some fine passing by Atletico eventually found the ball at Koke’s feet who played a brilliant ball behind the defense to an unmarked Costa. On his part, Costa lunged and outstretched his left leg to redirect the ball in the back of Milan’s net.
Atletico Madrid-Milan: Official line-ups
Highlights: Atletico Madrid 4-1 Milan
For the better part of the opening 20 minutes, Atletico was the most dangerous, creating numerous chances but squandering most of them. Milan settled down after the first 20 minutes and began pushing the ball into the Atletico half and laying siege to the opposition goal.
The pressure finally paid off when youngster Andrea Poli, starting in place of the cup-tied Keisuke Honda, picked out Riccardo Kaka on the back post. The Brazilian was able to nod home, partly thanks to a deflection from defender Juanfran.
The goal seemed to breathe new life into the Milan squad as they continued to press, looking for a go-ahead goal. The worst possible luck could only strike in the 40th minute as Atletico’s Turkish midfielder, Arda Turan’s deflected shot lobbed over the top of Christian Abbiati and into the Milan goal. This goal seemed to completely deflate the players which was evident from the body language.
Out of the break Milan never really regained any composure and were unable to score anymore goals unfortunately. Atletico were content in allowing Milan to attack and catch them on the break as Costa is at his best in space.
The 71st minute buried all hope for the Milanista’s as Raul Garcia rose high to meet the ball and head home for Atletico’s third goal of the game. Costa would grab a brace only 5 minutes from time to send Milan crashing out of the UCL in an embarrassing manner and added to their nightmares for the season.
The game was not out of Milan’s reach to be honest. The players lacked a fighting spirit and the entire team was just not in sync with each other. The Vicente Calderon stadium may have had a lot to do with it as the home town crowd were vocally behind their team for most of the night.
Defensively the center back deficiency needs to be addressed this off-season as there is a glaring problem. With no seemingly large investment to be made by Silvio Berlusconi, the club owner, the team must rely on smart transfers and the Primavera squad which has many promising talents to choose from, namely the captain and defensive stalwart Pacifico.
It was a disheartening loss for the Rossoneri faithful but we must stand by our team through all situations. There is no doubt in my mind that Milan will be back to the European stage with a bang very soon. For now the Diavolo have to focus on the league and getting some good results to move into a spot for the Europa League competition.
Average players got destroyed,end of story.
Plus Seedorf played Emanuelson instead of De Schilio so….yeah.
Finished club.
I think seedorf not good as milan coach, milan coach should be Inzagi,,,,,,,
I cant read this. Is like reading my own testament…
Here we go again. These Milan windbags were yakking away whatever makes them sound good about Balotelli in the previous article. Yeah,bash him some more because he had some many chances he wasn’t able to score.Plus,Milan was super dominant through out the game Balotelli failed to propel his team mates to win over Atletico lol. Truth is,none of that happened.You just don’t expect Balotelli to magically put in great work,when he gets zero attacking support from his players and was constantly frustrated by Atletico players. Pazzini wouldn’t have done anything special – Hell,even Messi wouldn’t have thrived with this Milan… Read more »
@Milan fan de scijlio was hurt and dont blame seedorf
I’m a damaged milan fan.. I’m a die hard and will always support this team no matter what but I never expected to be this bad this season.. I’ve been damaged too much this season because the simple truth is the team is not good, I guess it’s worse that my best friend is a juve fan but how milan was to wat they r now is so embarrassing. Even 2 years ago with ibra and thiago Silva we were still Considered a great team, but why does that feel so long ago? In two years how did we go… Read more »
we dont need to SPLASH money, we just have to spend. they have not been spending.
the saddest thing is there is no plans in this club.
The club must be sold to another hand…
Another thing I don’t understand is why is Berlusconi so cheap.. If u read he is one of the richest men in the world and in Italy.. He’s worth over 7 billion dollars.. I understand he has other companies and all that but the guy is worth 7 billion. He can buy real Madrid if he wanted to. If he can’t afford to invest in milan then he has to make a choice of selling milan or one of his companies. He’s not the same like when he bought this club and made them champions, it’s like he doesn’t care… Read more »
If only I was football player, I would raise this team to excellence.
Sorry guys iam realist ..and this CLUB is dead now .. and belive me or not ..for a very long time ..Even Mourinho wouldnt help in ACs situation :/
This Team Sucks!
Milan needs a new Everybody
Criticizing Seedorf for anything outside of his squad selection for a particular match is laughable at this juncture. Seedorf hasn’t even been with us for a 1/4 of a season or a complete transfer window. On another topic, we should be patient with Kaka, Mario, Taraabt, and Rami. It takes time to get used to being a full time starter after not playing much. -Rami was inactive for months. -Taraabt over an even longer period of time barely played. -Kaka is still building back his fitness after all that occurred at Madrid. -This is the first full season of Mario’s… Read more »
Sorry bro but AC milan is not fotbal academy ..heres not time to wait for players to grow or to change ..Ac started to rebuild the team in 2012 ..now is 2014 and we r going down step by step …This is not Parma , Roma or Fiorentina ..This is AC MILAN ..We schould be at the same level as REal MAdrid ,BArcelona,Bayern,JUve..
If we have no money, we should focus on our youth, what happened to the youth project?
If things aren’t going as well, but we all can see where we’re going, and that we’re actually counting on our youth (Promote Pacifico to the first team next season would be a start) would be fine for us fans. But don’t tell us that we’re focusing on youth but buying players like Constant, Essien etc. We weren’t born yesterday.
Do we still have the option to buy Pato back? Maybe we should. I think he would be good on the wing.
Milan need to overhaul. Build with youth and intelligent transfers. Inzaghi and the youth team are doing well. Gk. Give rest of season to Gabriel. Depending on play and summer keep him as number 1 or go get a number 1 in transfers (25 and younger). Lose abbiatti Coppola and Amelia. ( why do we have 4 keepers any ways) Defense. Keep and play De Sciglio. Lose abate. Fast but can’t cross and questionable on def Keep rami.( for interim) Lose all other defenders Go with youth Midfield. Monti has a few more good years then would be good back… Read more »