Crosshairs, culprits and threats: What was behind Fonseca’s brutal post-match rant

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·12 December 2024

Crosshairs, culprits and threats: What was behind Fonseca’s brutal post-match rant

It would be fair to say that Paulo Fonseca spoke his mind after AC Milan’s win against Red Star, producing perhaps his most honest interview yet.

Fonseca took issue with the attitude that he saw from his team, especially in a second half which saw them surrender a lead and find it difficult to establish dominance against – with respect – an inferior team on paper.

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“I’m tired of struggling with these things, I’m not satisfied with the team’s performance. The problem is that our team is a roller coaster. Today we are fine, tomorrow I don’t know. It’s like tossing a coin and waiting to see what happens. It’s almost impressive.

“I know that I work every day to prepare the team, to do well. I don’t know if everyone in the team can say the same. We had the obligation to arrive today and do everything to win the match. And we didn’t do it.”

Those were the post-match words from the Portuguese coach, who – without naming names – made it abundantly clear that he will never be accepting of a performance at that level. From that, we can try to understand who he was referring to.

There are several players who could be accused of not giving their all on the pitch, but we can exclude a few fairly easily. Rafael Leao and Tammy Abraham were the goal scorers, Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders endeavoured in midfield, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Alvaro Morata went off injured.

Fonseca’s targets

Among the outfield players, Davide Calabria, Malick Thiaw, Matteo Gabbia and Theo Hernandez remain from the defence, then Yunus Musah and the substitutes Samuel Chukwueze and Emerson Royal.

None of them really shone last night but to say that they didn’t try would not be accurate for most of the aforementioned. To narrow the target circle even more, let’s try to analyse the other words pronounced by Fonseca.

“If there is a need to call-up the Primavera or Milan Futuro boys, I will do it. Without problems,” he said. From this phrase, we can deduce that it is likely that Fonseca is aiming at Theo Hernandez and the idea of Alex Jimenez being summoned.

Even in the summer when he joined permanently from Real Madrid, Zlatan Ibrahimovic declared Jimenez as Theo’s deputy. Fonseca, however, disagreed and he remained with the Futuro, with Filippo Terracciano instead playing as the back-up to the Frenchman.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

The main culprit

It is no secret that the performances and attitudes shown on the pitch by Theo in recent weeks, if not months, have been mostly insufficient. He appears to be only a shadow of the ‘best left-back in the world’ admired in past seasons.

The reasons are many, starting with the accusations that surfaced through Fabrizio Corona about an incident in a night club (currently unfounded), plus a relationship that has not really blossomed with Fonseca and the negotiations for the renewal that are increasingly complicated.

Theo is attached to Milan but he is also eager to earn more or test himself in other contexts. In his homeland there is his brother who calls from Paris (Saint-Germain), but there is no shortage of admirers in Germany where Bayern Munich tested the waters in the summer.

These are dreams and ambitions that clash with the insufficient performances in the first half of the season. The problems are many, but none of these are an alibi even for Fonseca who now tries to provoke him – as he did with Leao – to question him.

The 27-year-old’s future remains uncertain today, with the club evaluating the idea of a transfer – perhaps even with a renewal first – to make everyone happy by pocketing a figure as close as possible to 60 million.

A question of heart

The phrase about calling on Primavera and Futuro players can also be interpreted in another way. Last night, the one who actually made the difference for Milan was a 16-year-old, namely Francesco Camarda.

He came off the bench and showed a burst of heart and desire in the middle of four opponents, leaping like a salmon as he did for the disallowed goal against Club Brugge, this time hitting the crossbar before Abraham buried the rebound.

The phenomenon of the Azzurrini saw his dream of becoming the youngest scorer in the history of the Champions League shattered for the second time in a month and do you know how he reacted? By celebrating with the man who scored.

For him, the team comes before himself and the attachment he feels for the red and black shirt is obvious through actions rather than empty words. That is what Fonseca believes is missing from the team: someone who will fight in every minute, aware of the opportunity they have.

There could therefore be some rather unexpected opportunities in the coming weeks for younger talents like Jimenez, Davide Bartesaghi, Adam Bakoune, Kevin Zeroli, Dariusz Stalmach, Chaka Traore and more. After all, if you have heart then you tick the first box on Fonseca’s list.