GdS: Three competitions, three opportunities – January a crucial first month for Conceicao

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·3 gennaio 2025

GdS: Three competitions, three opportunities – January a crucial first month for Conceicao

AC Milan’s new head coach Sergio Conceicao is just getting to grips with the task at hand, but he must already have an eye on the January schedule.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport write, Conceicao has made it clear since his first training session at Milanello that he expects a team who will fight for every win, because there is no longer any time to waste. January is therefore a month of responsibility, but also opportunity.

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The Supercoppa

The Super Cup, it goes without saying, could really be the right chance at the right time because it offers, in a very short path, a good trophy to mitigate some bitterness.

Maybe it is not a trophy that shines excessively in itself, but there is always room in the cabinet and then raising it in the face of Juve, Inter and Atalanta would be a good signal for the competition and the other side of the Navigli.

It would deliver a substantial dose of confidence and self-esteem too. Conceiçao would also become the Rossoneri coach who delivers the first title to RedBird Capital, something that would also benefit himself in the future.

Serie A

After returning from Riyadh, the Rossoneri will dive back into the league, the big sore point of the season. There is a very unpleasant double eight: eighth place in the table, and eight points below the Champions League placed.

That needs to be changed and the calendar says that the next two games will undoubtedly be manageable: Cagliari (Saturday 11, at home) and Como (Tuesday 14, away). After that, Juve will arrive again (Saturday 18, away).

The objective is clear: to try to find themselves ahead of the Bianconeri after this trio of games. They need to achieve that winning streak that Fonseca has never managed. The climb towards the Champions League zone depends on it.

Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/AC Milan via Getty Images

Champions League

Speaking of the Champions League, January will also be crucial to understand how Milan will continue on their path. The next step after the league phase is not yet mathematically certain, but virtually acquired.

However, there are two very different scenarios on the horizon: simply qualifying for the play-offs (i.e. finishing from 9th to 24th place) would complicate life both because it would be a tricky two-legged regardless of the draw, and because it would complicate the February calendar, adding two games.

Ending in the top eight places instead would mean direct access to the round of 16, a much easier path which would be sealed by winning the last two games: Girona (Tuesday 21, at home) and Dinamo Zagreb (Wednesday 29, away). There is also a chance four points would be enough.

Conceiçao faces an important January, and getting through it well would allow Milan to present themselves at the derby on February 2 in the best possible conditions.