AC Milan Fails In The Champions League, Conceicao Blames Himself For Hernandez

Santiago Gimenez (right) failed to qualify AC Milan for the last 16 of the Champions League despite scoring a quick goal against Feyenoord. (X/@acmilan)

JAKARTA - AC Milan failed to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League. Coach Sergio Conceicao blamed himself after Milan was eliminated by Feyenoord and refused rather than blaming defender Theo Hernandez for being red carded in the second play which ended in a 1-1 draw at the San Siro Stadium, Wednesday, February 19, 2025 in the morning WIB.

Milan still have a chance to qualify despite losing 1-0 in the first match at home to Feyenoord. At least, Milan equalized the score first before entering extra time and continued on penalties for a 1-1 aggregate.

Conceicao's team became more confident after scoring a goal when the game had only been running for one minute. Striker Santiago Gimenez broke into the goal of his former club so he didn't celebrate. It also became Gimenez's third goal during Gimenez's five games since joining Milan two weeks ago.

After winning 1-0, Milan continued to dominate and was just waiting for time to add goals. But what happened Milan instead lost a player. Hernandez got a second yellow card followed by a red card in the 51st minute.

Hernandez was kicked out for diving in the forbidden box. Instead of getting a penalty, the defender of the French national team was even on a red card.

Feyenoord tried to maximize opportunities against 10 opponents who played with 10 people. As a result, the Dutch EDivisie club could equalize the score to 1-1 when Julian Carranza scored a goal. The score lasted until the game was over so Feyenoord won on aggregate 2-1.

Milan tragically had to be eliminated. This failure completes the results of disappointing the Italian Serie A club in European competitions. Milan actually doesn't have to go through the playoffs if they win in the last match of the preliminary round against Dinamo Zagreb who is already eliminated.

Instead of winning, Milan lost 2-1 to fail to enter the last eight which automatically qualified for the last 16. They had to play a playoffs and meet Feyenoord who remained tough despite being left by coach Arne Slot who moved to Liverpool and Gimenez who joined Milan. But the Rossoneri eventually failed to get past Feyennoord's obstacles.

"This is clearly a failure because we actually want to qualify for the last 16. This match shows that we are clearly stronger than the opposing team. But this kind of episode happened. It's like in Zagreb when we also got a red card," said Conceicao who defended Hernandez rather than blaming him.

"You could say that the referee (Szymon Marciniak) was too much. But what is certain is that I am responsible and not Theo," he said again.

"Theo has given everything for Milan. Until Theo got a red card, Feyennoord didn't know how to score. We were really disappointed and angry with this result," said the former Porto coach.

Conceicao also considered himself unfair compared to the previous coach who had handled Milan for years. Conceicao himself has only been one and a half months since replacing Paulo Fonseca in December 2024. However, he immediately led Milan to win the Italiana Supercoppa by defeating the strong Inter Milan team in the final.

"I came a month and a half ago. But they compared me to the coach who has been here for years. We won trophies and that's what can be achieved for now. We also stepped into the Coppa Italia semifinals. In the league, we won 14 points. While Napoli got 15 points," said Conceicao again.

The Italian teams did fall in the Champions League playoffs. Apart from Milan, Atalanta became the next team to be eliminated. Now, Italy has hopes for Juventus and Inter.