History made despite league struggles: key stats as Abate leaves Milan Primavera | OneFootball

Ignazio Abate has coached his last game for AC Milan’s Primavera side, now ready to take on a bigger challenge elsewhere. This was confirmed after the 1-1 draw against Lazio last night, which knocked them out of the play-offs.

After the final whistle, Abate spoke to the media and confirmed that it was his last game in charge of the Primavera: “This was my last match as Milan coach, I feel ready for professional football”. As such, a replacement will have to be found for next season.

Abate’s contract will expire at the end of June and he will then be free to sign for another club, with a Serie B adventure now likely. So, how big of a loss is this for Milan? The short answer is that it’s indeed a big loss, even if it was expected at this point.

The 36-year-old racked up a total of 75 games (31W, 16D, 28L) in charge of the team across two seasons, with an average points per game of 1.45. Not exactly a brilliant figure, but there is a pretty big caveat that should be taken into consideration.

In fact, Milan Primavera have been brilliant in the UEFA Youth League since Abate joined, reaching the semi-final and then the final despite having such a young team. Taking just this tournament into consideration, the average points per game figure increases to 2.10.

Milan also became the first youth side to reach the Youth League semi-final two years in a row, as well as the first Italian team to reach the final. In short, Abate made history with the team and it cannot be overstated how impressive this is, using so many young players (often much younger than the opponents).

On the other hand, it’s clear that Abate and his side could have done a lot better in the league (12th last season and 6th this time out) and this is something the manager will have to improve with his new club. European competitions sure do bring a lot of glory, but you also need to be strong in the league.