Comparison of the Last Time AC Milan Appeared in the Champions League and Now

DBasia.news – AC Milan escaped the pinhole in the final match of the 2020-2021 Serie A. The Rossoneri hit their target for the 2021-2022 Champions League after overthrowing Atalanta in the decider.

Once in doubt, Milan unexpectedly beat Atalanta in Bergamo. Two goals from the Rossoneri were bought by Franck Kessie from the spot.

With these results, Milan ended the season in second place. From 38 matches, Milan collected 79 points. Stefano Pioli’s squad is 12 points adrift of the champions, Inter Milan.

Now, Milan will return to compete in the Champions League. The Rossoneri represent Italy with Inter Milan, Atalanta and Juventus. These results at the same time erase the thirst of Milan, who have been absent from the Champions League since 2014.

With seven years in which Milan have been absent from the best European club competition, it is interesting to discuss how the squad is currently doing. BolaSkor will review it as below.

Milan’s last appearance in the Champions League was in the 2013-2014 season. The Rossoneri were only able to advance to the last 16. At that time, Milan were coached by Massimiliano Allegri.

At that time, in the position of goalkeeper, Milan was strengthened by Marco Amelia, Ferdinando Coppola, Gabriel, and Christian Abbiati. Currently, three of the four goalkeepers have their gloves hanging.

The only one who is still actively playing is Gabriel. He strengthened the Serie B club, Lecce.

On the other hand, Abbiati returned to serve Milan by becoming the team coordinator. Meanwhile, Coppola chose to become Cremonese’s goalkeeping coach. Meanwhile, Amelia is behind the wheel of AS Livorno.

Turning to the defender, Milan was strengthened by Mattia De Sciglio, Philippe Mexes, Adil Rami, Cristian Zapata, Ignazio Abate, Kevin Constant, Daniele Bonera, Matias Silvestre, and Cristian Zaccardo.

Mexes, Bonera, Abate, and Zaccardo are three names who have hung up their boots. Meanwhile, De Sciglio (Lyon), Silvestre (Mouscron), Zapata (Genoa), and Rami (Boavista) are still actively playing. Interestingly, Bonera returned to Milan as a technical coach.

Going to the second line, Milan registered Sulley Muntari, Riccardo Saponara, Keisuke Honda, Valter Birsa, Michael Essien, Andrea Poli, Riccardo Montolivo, Bryan Cristante, Urby Emanuelson, and Nigel de Jong to show off in the Champions League.

Of these names, most of them are still present today. Honda (Neftchi Baku), Cristante (AS Roma), Emanuelson (FC Utrecht), Poli (Bologna), De Jong (Al-Shahania SC) are the players who fall into this category. Meanwhile, Birsa is without a club after being released by Cagliari for the last time.

Meanwhile, Montolivo has retired in Milan in 2019. Constant and Muntari have also chosen a similar path. On the other hand, a player who had a career in Indonesia with Persib Bandung, Michael Essien, is currently taking a break from his football career.

The last position is the attack fleet. In that season, Milan had a number of dangerous players such as Robinho, Giampaolo Pazzini, Ricardo Kaka, Adel Taarabt, Stephan El Shaarawy, and Mario Balotelli.

Now, players like Kaka and Pazzini have chosen to stop being players. Meanwhile, Robinho is on hiatus after last defending the club that discovered his talent, Santos.

Meanwhile, Balotelli, Petagna, and El Shaarawy are still working in Italy. If Balotelli is the spearhead of Serie B club Monza, El Shaarawy strengthens Roma and Petagna becomes the mainstay of Napoli. On the other hand, Taarabt who is 32 years old is struggling with Benfica.