Former Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen might be forced out of the team by the Barcelona’s management following the arrival of new defender Clement Lenglet. The player has struggled a lot with injuries since his move to Barcelona and has only managed 41 appearances for the Spanish team in 4 years.
Serie A side AC Milan failed to seize their home advantage against Premier League side Arsenal in the first leg of the Round of 16 clash. The under-fire side shocked San Siro by defeating them 2-0. The victory eased the pressure on longtime coach Arsene Wenger.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored his first goal for the club since his winter move. Aaron Ramsey scored the second to end their four game losing run. The Milan side was 13 games without a loss so they were expected to at least do better. A clinical and disciplined Arsenal side ended Milan’s unbeaten run and in return ended their losing streak.
The Armenian was critical to Manchester United winning run in the competition last year, scoring a goal in the final. He has been impressive in the tournament as well for Arsenal with his latest goal happening 15 minutes into the fixture.
Milan could not convert their possession to creative chances upfront. After the break, the Gunners compounded their woes with the second from the Welshman, who scored his seventh of the season. Gennaro Gattuso could not inspire the team to make a comeback in front of their fans. They face a very tough task in the return leg at the Emirates Stadium next week.
AC Milan head coach Gennaro Gattuso has stressed that he will stick with the Rossoneri despite the club enduring a torrid run under his guidance. Milan have secured just one victory in the last five league games, and this has seen them fall 14 points adrift of the final Champions League spot after 18 games into the season.
Milan suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Hellas Verona last weekend, and this has been coupled with another 2-0 loss at home to Atalanta, which has spread speculation over Gattuso’s potential departure from San Siro.
Continue reading “Gennaro Gattuso not prepared to step down from AC Milan role”
Italian national team central defender Leonardo Bonucci has praised AC Milan for their “journey of growth” but still feels they are behind Juventus and Napoli.
Milan needed Suso to score a free kick 20 minutes from regular time for them to scrap a 2-1 result against Cagliari. It was not a show of brilliance yet, though they earnedtheir second successive victory in the league.
The coach Vincenzo Montella is working at integrating the new signings and develop a strong winning team. Bonucci, who is the skipper of the side, is pleased with the progress so far but admits that they are “only at the start.” He claimed Juventus and Napoli are “a little ahead” of them so they would need to improve and become more of a team. Continue reading “BONUCCI: AC MILAN STILL BEHIND JUVE AND NAPOLI”
When Massimiliano Allegri parted ways with AC Milan 3 years ago, his prospect of landing another top job seemed very low.
As fate will have it, Juventus was at that time looking for a replacement for outgoing Antonio Conte after he confirmed he would be taking the job of being in charge of the Italian national side. Beyond the ugly decline of Milan overseen by Allegri, the Turin giants were able to spot and willing to harness his lucrative tactical skills.
Allegri’s subsequent success with the Old Lady, leading them to 3consecutive league titles and 2 Champions League finals,exceeded expectations. He hybridized the squad and actually made them better than Conte’s, an unthinkable feat given what the current ‘Chelsea coach achieved with the club. Continue reading “ALLEGRI AND THE BANE OF COMPULSIVE LOVE FOR DEFENCE”
Serie A giant AC Milan are keen on keeping highly sought after goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma but the club says they are frustrated with the player’s agent Mino Raiola.
Donnarumma has a year left on his current deal with the San Siro but top sides are open to signing him. The 18-year old shot stopper has been decent in his role for the club, winning the hearts of top clubs. With the recent completion of the Chinese takeover of Milan, Mirabelli was part of the changes at the club.
The director wants to keep the club’s best players of which Donnarumma is one. He remains optimistic of convincing the player to stay at the club as they set rebuilding plans in motion.
“All we needed to do was look Donnarumma in the eyes to see if he wants to stay at Milan, and we could see that he wants to. But now we have also got to talk with his agent. We wanted to talk with him to understand how much the lad is attached to these colours. Continue reading “MILAN FRUSTRATED BY DONNARUMMA’S AGENT”
Italian football legend Andrea Pirlo has revealed that he could have lined up for the best team in the world in Barcelona if he wanted to.
Pirlo started his pro career through a host of Italian football clubs like Brescia, Inter Milan, and Reggina before he developed into a superstar at Milan following his big-money move. He was with the Rossoneri for a decade before he decided to leave. He moved to Serie A giant Juventus as he left in the pecking order at the San Siro.
Pirlo said that before his move to play for the Bianconeri, he could have moved to Nou Camp.
“When I was at Milan, we played a friendly game at the Camp Nou and after the game, Pep Guardiola called me into his office inside the stadium. He asked me if I would like to play under him at Barcelona. It was very nice for me, to have been asked to his office and told that. At that time, Milan would never have allowed me to leave though,” Pirlo said recently in an interview with L’Equipe. Continue reading “PIRLO – I COULD HAVE PLAYED AT BARCELONA”
Sergio Barilla, the agent of AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca has denied the reports which suggest the 30 years old Colombian international is on his way to leaving the club.
Bacca, who joined AC Millan from Sevilla for a transfer fee of €30 million, was a subject of transfer speculations all summer with top clubs in Europe like Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and West Ham all gunning for the signature of the prolific AC Milan attacker.
At the beginning of the season, the 30-year-old striker revealed he almost completed a move to Paris Saint-Germain, with West Ham united manager claiming Bacca favored a move to Arsenal. Continue reading “AGENT: CARLOS BACCA HAPPY AT AC MILAN”
After reports that the Spanish midfielder might be making a switch to AC Milan during the January transfer window, it is now believed that the Italian club is not interesting in going forward with the deal.
There have been media reports last week that AC Milan’s representatives have traveled to London in order to join Chelsea’s representative. It was believed that the Italian club was trying to convince their London counterpart to allow Fabregas to come on loan.
But it is now believed that the Italian club is no more interested to sign the player and that they are considering other options. There are rumors that the Italian club considers Fabregas salary as a major stumbling block for the deal and that they are now considering cheaper options to boost their squad.
AC Milan has made a good start to their Serie A season this year, and their coach Vincenzo Montella is putting his trust in a group of young players. They were looking to add more experienced in the side and considered Fabregas as an ideal candidate to help boost the team in the center of the park. Continue reading “Fabregas not joining AC Milan”
AC Milan coach Vincenzo Montello has stated that AC Milan should win their fans back. He said that the club is nothing without its supporters, and it is up to the players to win them back to the team.
He was speaking after the match that saw AC Milan beat Torino 3-2. Although AC Milan managed to win the game, it was by no means an easy game and they could have ended up the match with a defeat. It is only because of some poor defending by Torino that the team managed to score 3 goals.
Vincenzo Montella believes that the only way for AC Milan to get back to the top of the Serie A will be to get the fans back behind the team. He said that this is not a new problem and that it is up to the players to change that. He said that fans are not angry with the team or with the coach, but they are just disappointed with the way the club has been playing for a few seasons now. Continue reading “AC Milan needs to get fans back”