AC Milan Between Pioli Crisis And Atalanta Controversial Penalty

Coach Stefano Pioli faces dismissal following AC Milan's failure at Coppa Italia. (acmilan.com)

JAKARTA - AC Milan lost the chance to win trophies after being knocked out in the Coppa Italia. Atalanta's controversial penalty for getting rid of Milan put coach Stefano Pioli in a critical situation.

Pressure on Pioli got tougher after Milan was eliminated in the Coppa Italia. This failure made it increasingly difficult for Milan to win trophies.

Because the Rossoneri have failed in the Champions League and are now fighting in the Europa League. Opportunities in Europe's second tier competition were not easy because there were strong teams like Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen.

How about the Italian Serie A competition? Despite being ranked third, Milan is already nine points behind with one city rivals Inter Milan, who are at the top of the standings.

Currently, Inter have 49 points and have established them as half-season champions or Winter Champions. Followed by Juventus who are two points behind.

Meanwhile, Milan, who pocketed 39 points, had to struggle to shift Juve before aiming for Inter.

Milan's tough step if you want to compete for the Scudetto. The opportunity has not been closed because the second half of the competition is still quite long.

Despite trying to be consistent, Milan's hopes of hunting for Inter are definitely not an easy job. The reason is, the Rossoneri compete with the rivals who are no less consistent.

Milan actually hopes to win the Coppa Italia. At the very least, the club wants to close the competition by lifting the trophy.

However, that hope was dashed after losing 2-1 against Atalanta in the match at home at the San Siro Stadium, Thursday, January 11 in the morning WIB.

In that duel, Milan took the lead through Rafael Leao. But Atalanta was able to catch up and turn things around through two goals by Teun Koopmeiners.

The problem is, the second goal from the penalty spot became controversial. Referee Marco Di Bello awarded a penalty because midfielder Alex Jimenez was judged to have brought down Aleksei Miranchuk in the box.

But Jimenez actually took the ball first and then Miranchuk looked diving. But VAR instead supported the referee's decision that Jimenez brought down Miranchuk.

The next controversy, again, concerns Miranchuk. This time, he touched the ball in the penalty box.

However, the referee allowed the incident even though it was clearly seen that Miranchuk's hand hit the ball. There were no penalties and Milan had to be eliminated.

"We played well in the first half and deserved to take the lead. Unfortunately our defense should have been better. But the opponent could have scored so the score was even. The match completely changed because of the penalty that shouldn't have been there," said Pioli, who was disappointed with Atalanta's penalty.

"VAR can still lead to debate. It shouldn't be a penalty because our players have already taken the ball first. Atalanta players actually brought themselves down, even before contact," he said.

"After the penalty, we have lost focus. We also lost control over the game," Pioli said again.

Pioli clearly regretted and was disappointed with the penalty. Moreover, the penalty was the determinant of the match. Pioli's position was increasingly critical and the threat of dismissal rose.

Even supporters themselves ridiculed Milan after the match. Supporters have lost confidence in Pioli which actually brought Milan to the Scudetto after a long fast for the Italian Serie A title.

However, supporters feel that Milan's achievements with Pioli are still not enough. Likewise, the club that wants Pioli to be able to bring the team to win trophies every season.

CEO of the Giorgio Furlani club said that the team's achievements this season were really disappointing. Furlani's statement became a signal that Pioli's process was considered a failure.

"This is really disappointing. We want to stay in all competitions, whenever possible. We even hope to get better results in Serie A," Furlani told Sky Sports Italia.

"Nevertheless, we remain focused and hope to achieve better results," he said.