Milan President Paolo Scaroni insists the encounter with ultras was ‘positive and encouraging,’ admits they didn’t expect to go beyond the Champions League Round of 16 and the stadium project suffered another setback.
The chief was a guest at this weekend’s Gazzetta dello Sport event in Milan and naturally confessed he was “not in a good mood” after yesterday’s shock 2-0 Serie A defeat to Spezia.
That left them in fifth place, further away from the top four and potentially caught by Roma today as well, leading to a ‘meeting’ after the final whistle between the ultras and the entire squad, including coach Stefano Pioli. Was it threatening or encouraging?
“I was told it was a nice gesture, one of encouragement that showed how much the fans care about the team. I see it as a positive incident,” said Scaroni.
“My mood has now improved ahead of the derby. Since I arrived at Milan, there has been this surge forward that saw us win the Scudetto last season and reach the Champions League semi-final now. It is to be expected for a club with the history of Milan, but not considering the state we were in…
“I am a man of numbers and I can tell you we had budgeted to simply get past the group phase. We went a long way past that target, but now we want to beat Inter and reach the Final.”
It will be extremely difficult considering Inter won the first leg 2-0, but the decider is on Tuesday at San Siro and Rafael Leao ought to be back in the squad.
“Milan always come up with surprises, as we beat Napoli 4-0 away and then knocked them out of the Champions League. Who would’ve predicted that? Nobody.
“We have a leader like Stefano Pioli and a strong squad, which is why I remain optimistic. The atmosphere in the first leg was a great advertisement for Italian football all over the world.”
Even if he doesn’t play on Tuesday, Leao has practically agreed a new contract with Milan, while Scaroni also backs Pioli to continue his experience at the club.
“Pioli never clings to excuses, he never underlines the number of injured players and has a style that I recognise in Paolo Maldini, Ricky Massara and when he was here also Ivan Gazidis. This style has been contagious to our fans.
“Pioli has another two years on his contract and, even if these are not decisions that I make, I don’t see any problem for us to carry on together.”
Scaroni as the financial chief is focused mainly on the new stadium project and admits the idea of building an arena away from the San Siro area of Milan also suffered another setback.
“La Maura is an enormous area, 75 hectares that is closed off to the public, so the people of Milan do not benefit from it. A stadium there would be logical and not devastating for the ecosystem, but we have other ideas outside Milan too that can be reached with the Metro. I believe Milan will have a new stadium by the end of this decade, so in 2027, 2028 or 2029.”