From #PioliOut to unbeaten Serie A leaders: Stefano Pioli’s miraculous turnaround at AC Milan

On 8^th October 2019, I was lucky enough to be on holiday at the beautiful Lake Iseo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy.

Turning on the TV that evening, the local channel was dedicating all its programming to one news item: AC Milan. Milan had sacked Marco Giampaulo after just seven games and were sitting in thirteenth place in Serie A.

#PioliOut trending on twitter the day of his appointment.

City rivals Inter were refusing to release former manager Luciano Spaletti from his severance agreement. The Lombardian TV pundits were furious, instead, Stefano Pioli was about to be announced Milan manager and #PioliOut was trending on Twitter in Italy before the official announcement was even made.

On the face of it the anger of Milan’s fans was understandable. They had been through seven managers, including club legends Clarence Seedorf and Gennaro Gattuso, since winning their last major trophy in 2011. A period of incredible mediocrity for a club of Milan’s stature. Now Pioli, another journeyman Serie A manager, with no major trophy to his name, was being brought in.

Digging deeper, the logic of Milan’s hierarchy in choosing Pioli to unite a fragile squad, lacking in confidence could be seen. In March 2018, whilst manager of Fiorentina, Pioli had dealt with incredible tragedy. His captain, Davide Astori, was found dead in his hotel room on the morning of an away game. Astori’s death was later confirmed as a cardiac arrest.

Pioli won widespread praise for the dignity, class and grace with which he led his team following the tragedy. He had also resigned from Fiorentina in April 2019, not over poor performance, but as he wrote in his goodbye letter to the fans, because the board had ‘questioned his human qualities’.

With a mood of unrest and fan protests against the ownership engulfing the Rossoneri, Pioli managed three wins from his first nine games as Milan headed to Bergamo to face Atalanta on December 22^nd for the final game before the Christmas break.

Credit: gazzetta.it

What followed was Milan’s worst defeat in twenty-one years, a humiliating 5-0 defeat. The next morning, Italy’s famous sports daily Gazzetta Della Sport carried the headline: Salvate il Milan! (Save Milan!).

Whilst the new year and January transfer window brought much needed reinforcements, particularly the return of the mercurial Zlatan Ibrahimovic alongside experienced centre-back Simon Kjaer, the cloud over Pioli refused to lift.

Multiple outlets in Italy and Germany reported that Ralf Rangnick, Technical Director at RB Leipzig was being courted by Milan CEO Ivan Gazidis to take over at the end of the season as Head Coach and transfer supremo.  Club legends and board members Paulo Maldini and Zvonomir Boban were unaware of Gazidis’ plan. Boban gave an interview to Gazzetta, criticising Gazidis saying:

‘Not warning us (about approaching Rangnick) was disrespectful and inelegant. It’s not the Milan way. At least what we remembered was Milan.’

Boban was subsequently sacked and Pioli continued on with his future being questioned at every press conference.

On the pitch, January saw Milan stabilise and go unbeaten, putting together three wins and two draws against mid-table opposition.  On 9^th February in an epic Derby della Madonnina, Milan held a 2-0 lead at half time, before being stunned by an epic comeback from Antonio Conte’s experienced Inter side in the second half to lose 4-2.

Despite the loss, Pioli insisted after the game he was ‘convinced in the quality of the team’. It seemed the fruits of Pioli’s labour were starting to show, as the Coronavirus crisis spread across Europe putting football on hold.

Credit: acmilan.com

The enforced cancellation of football in the spring gave Pioli the time to analyse his young squad. Post-lockdown, Milan have been on fire, going unbeaten in the league (nine wins and three draws), to finish sixth and qualify for the Europa League.

Such form forced the Milan hierarchy to abandon their pursuit of Rangnick and award Pioli a new contract in June. Milan have carried on this form into the new season and remain unbeaten in Serie A, with a record on nine wins and two draws, winning their first league derby in four years along the way.

The core of Milan’s team is very young, with goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, defenders Alessio Romagnoli, Davide Calabria and Theo Hernandez, midfielders Franck Kessie and Ismael Bennacer and attackers Rafael Leao and Alexis Saelemaekers all being twenty-five or younger.  With the experience of Ibrahimovic and Kjaer alongside established internationals in their peak Ante Rebic and Hakan Calhanoglu, Milan have a very strong side indeed.

A side with a fantastic chance to win the Scudetto for the first time in ten years. What a happy irony it would be, if the man to lead them to this was the man nobody really wanted, the man who focuses on ‘human qualities’, Stefano Pioli.

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