No goals, no chances, no quality: Milan and Juventus complicit in terrible advert for Serie A

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·24 November 2024

No goals, no chances, no quality: Milan and Juventus complicit in terrible advert for Serie A

On Saturday evening, we witnessed perhaps one of the lowest points – from a footballing/aesthetic perspective – in the recent history of Serie A, with AC Milan and Juventus drawing 0-0.

What was, in the eyes of everyone, a marquee match between two of the strongest and most powerful teams in Italian football turned out to be an epic disgrace, with three combined shots on target and very little quality.

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A bad advert for Serie A

Two teams who are not in great shape took to the field. Milan’s issues are more psychological, while Juve’s were physical given the amount of injuries. The result: basic errors in the build-up phase, a lack of intensity and a failure to create any danger.

It was the worst possible publicity for Italian football, which – as Gerry Cardinale himself has admitted before – faces a battle for the eyes of fans around the world. Football must merge with entertainment to become attractive, yet his Milan were part of such an awful spectacle.

The blame also lies with Juventus and Thiago Motta, who was presented to the masses as a promoter of dominant and possession-based attacking football, yet they have now had four 0-0 draws already this season in the league.

All this in front of 75,000 paying spectators who, rightly, at the end of the match, let loose a liberating barrage of jeers aimed not only at Milan, but at the true great absentee of the evening: the show.

The last train

Yet, beyond football in general, the team who loses the most from the draw is certainly Milan. The Rossoneri remain six points behind Juve, currently sixth, and the last train for the Scudetto battle probably departed last night.

Fonseca failed to take advantage of the opportunity to get closer to the top four in a home match played against an objectively truncated Juve. The Bianconeri took to the field at San Siro with a starting line-up that featured Teun Koopmeiners and Weston McKennie leading the attack.

A team devastated by injuries that came to San Siro not to concede, which is perhaps understandable. On the contrary, Milan showed up with a knife between their teeth, being able to boast the best possible formation with the exception of Christian Pulisic, who would later come on.

The result was a fair 0-0 and not even a struggle for Motta’s men despite the absences, given that Milan’s first shot on target that didn’t come until the 95th minute. The result in isolation isn’t a disaster, but it was a bad evening that comes after a long series of bad evenings.

Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/AC Milan via Getty Images

Another empty season?

Now the management will tell us that the road is still long and that there are still a lot of points up for grabs. With a little realism we can realise that it is almost time to unwrap the panettone and Milan’s fight is not for the title but for the top four.

Another year of ‘transition’ seems to await. According to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Giorgio Furlani, Paulo Fonseca and even Geoffrey Moncada, this season started with the Scudetto as the target and should have been the springboard towards the future,.

Instead, the Diavolo at Christmas find themselves with the almost certainty of not being able to win anything, just like they did last year. Under Stefano Pioli a second-placed finish was achieved, under Fonseca it appears the aspiration will be fourth.

Milan left the field amid boos not only because they didn’t win but because they were complicit in a horrendous spectacle. In the end that’s what it all comes down to: football is a sport, and if a game isn’t entertaining then the fans have a right to be disappointed.