Football Season Guide

When coach Allegri was hired by Milan management last season, returning where he had won the title more than a decade before, he would not have expected to face a disappointing campaign. After all, despite losing in week 1, his boys went unbeaten between weeks 2 and 24 and, as they sat in second place, they looked capable of fighting for the Scudetto with Inter until the end. In the following games, though, they lost some steam and confidence and a final collapse became unavoidable. In fact, they won only 2 out of the last 8 games of the campaign and thus they fell off the top 4, finishing 5th and failing to achieve a much-needed qualification to the next Champions League. A draw at home against Cagliari in the season finale would have been sufficient for them to make Europe that matters, but they committed suicide, incredibly losing. After such a disaster, the management opted to part ways with Allegri and they hired Ruben Amorim, who did wonders at Sporting Lisboa and poorly at Manchester United and has no Serie A experience. Last season, Milan held one of the best defences of the Serie A, with 35 goals conceded, but were quite disappointing offensively, with no striker delivering when needed and their goals coming mainly from the wingers. Nevertheless, Milan invested in a centre-back, Gila, who did well at Lazio and is set to become a protagonist, being preferred to Tomori, while Diawara will make the bench. In the midfield, they saw no departures while a couple of players, Bondo and Musah, returned from loans but could be leaving too. However, Modric, close to being 40, decided to continue with them for 1 more campaign and they are on the hunt for a valid alternative when the Croatian needs a rest. Up-front, Fullkrug returned to his parent club after scoring just 1 goal and they hired Ramos, hoping that he will provide those goals they need to fight for the title again. Especially considering that Gimenez has been a failure thus far.