Ruben Amorim tore into his AC Milan players after Thursday's 2-0 Europa League defeat at home to Ferencvaros, admitting his side were "not prepared to play football" and warning in his press conference: "We have to improve, otherwise it's over."
Five days after Milan beat Inter 3-1 in the Derby della Madonnina, the Rossoneri produced what their coach called their worst first half of the season at San Siro. They did not manage a shot on target before the break, and Lenny Joseph's second-half brace — the first rolled into an empty net after a misplaced pass from stand-in goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani — condemned them to a third defeat in four Europa League games, as our full-time report on the Ferencvaros defeat detailed.
Ferencvaros even finished with ten men after Bamidele Yusuf was sent off in the 77th minute, and still Milan could not find a way back, despite Amorim sending on Christian Pulisic, Luka Modric, Mario Gila and Diego Moreira in a second half that changed nothing.
'We were not prepared to play football tonight'
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia after the game, in quotes transcribed by MilanNews, Amorim refused to hide behind rotation — he had made six changes from the derby win over Inter — or tiredness.
"There's no explanation. There's nothing I can say, especially about the first half. I don't remember another first half like it," he said. "It's about ambition, concentration, desire. We gave away opportunities, we gave away stupid gifts. We weren't prepared to play football tonight."
"We simply weren't ready to move from the derby to this other competition. When you play for Milan, you have a responsibility, and you can't show up like that. I usually have a lot to say in defence of our team, but not tonight. We need to be more humble and understand what happened."
Defender Koni De Winter had suggested the problem was psychological, and Amorim pointed to one player as the standard the rest must meet: "Everyone needs to train like Pavlovic. He's ready to die in training. He's a good example. Sometimes when players don't start, they struggle. But there are no excuses; we should have won even with those who started."
'Otherwise it's over'
Amorim went further in his press conference, putting his own position on the line, as Football Italia reported.
"I'm simply saying what I see, because you're not stupid, and I don't want to fool anyone," he said. "I have every reason to defend the team, so when I speak like this, I take responsibility first and foremost, because the team is my responsibility. But we cannot afford to do something like this, especially in the first half, in front of our fans, at our home. We can't do it. We have to improve, otherwise it's over."
"The facts prove it. Today's game was proof of it — we're not mentally ready. The technical aspect has nothing to do with it. The rotation has nothing to do with it. You can't tell me that the starting lineup wasn't up to the task of winning the game."
For all the fury, Amorim insisted he would not abandon the competition. "I won't give up on this competition," he said, in quotes carried by Reuters. "As long as we're not mathematically out of it, we'll keep fighting in this competition, just as we do in the others."
So what does this mean for Milan?
The numbers are brutal. Milan sit 28th in the Europa League league phase with three points from four games, outside the playoff places entirely, while Ferencvaros are level on 12 points at the top with Benfica and Bournemouth. A side that was supposed to be among the favourites now needs a near-perfect second half of the league phase just to reach the knockout playoff round.
The deeper problem is the split personality. The same squad that outplayed Inter in the derby has now lost to Benfica, Bournemouth and Ferencvaros in Europe, each time looking like a team that treats Thursday nights as optional. Amorim's "train like Pavlovic" line was aimed squarely at the big names who, in his words, were not brave and did not react to losing the ball the way they had four days earlier.
His warning that "it's over" if Milan do not improve reads as a message to the dressing room first and the board second — but coaches who say it out loud rarely get to unsay it. The league now has to carry the season while Europe is rescued, and the next European night at San Siro will show whether this blast was a turning point or the beginning of the end.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Amorim is right about the diagnosis and brave about the prescription — but a manager publicly telling his players to train like one defender, days after a derby win, is a man spending his own credit to buy a reaction. If Milan stroll through their next European game the way they strolled through this one, those words will not be remembered as motivation. They will be remembered as the moment the Amorim era started to crack.
Was Amorim right to go this hard on his players in public — or has he just made a bad European campaign worse? Let us know in the comments.
