AC Milan were eliminated from Europe games following a 2-1 loss to Liverpool. The worst-case scenario played out at San Siro, not just the defeat but a win for Atlético Madrid at the Dragão means that the Rossoneri finish bottom of Group B.
Major injury problems continue to plague the team. Milan were without Alessandro Plizzari, Davide Calabria, Simon Kjær, Samu Castillejo, Ante Rebić, Olivier Giroud, Rafael Leão and Pietro Pellegri.
The Serie A leader, took the lead with a goal by Fikaio Tomori in 29th minute, but in the course of the whole match Pioli’s team created too little and failed to defend its ambitions to qualify for the eliminations in the Champions League. Liverpool played the match quite calmly, but still managed to turn things around after goals from Mohamed Salah in 36th and Divok Origi in 55th minute. That was second goal for Origi in the last two matches.
“We have to bring home the awareness that the level in Europe is very high. I knew the difficulty of the group and of tonight’s match, unfortunately we didn’t give a great pace to the match and from a technical point of view it wasn’t ours. best match,”, said Pioli after the game.
The Merseysiders finished with a total of 18 points, becoming the first English team to do so, while the Rossoneri remained at the bottom with just four points. At the same time, Atletico Madrid won the direct battle with Porto for second place and will also qualify for the 1/8 finals. The Portuguese team will play in the Europa League in the spring.
Serie A is the only competition that Milan needs to focus on right now until the start of the Coppa Italia. Next is travel to Udinese at the Dacia Arena on Saturday.
