Milan's Defeat to Parma Widens Gap with Serie A Leaders

Defeat by Carlos Cuesta’s Parma leaves Rossoneri 10 points off top spot as England midfielder sustains broken jaw

These were supposed to be the weeks when Milan held the upper hand over their Serie A rivals, granted six days to prepare for a home game against bottom-half opposition while the likes of Inter, Juventus and Atalanta dragged themselves back exhausted from European away trips. Demoralised, too, after losing to Bodø/Glimt, Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund by a combined 10 goals to three.

It was a grim week for Italian football, the sort that provokes another round of sad think-pieces about whether the nation’s teams will ever again be competitive in the continent’s biggest tournament. A discourse which often seems to skim over the fact one of them has gone to the final twice in the past three seasons.

That Serie A has fallen behind Europe’s most successful leagues commercially, and that its best clubs are struggling to keep up as a result, has been evident now for many years. Returning to this point every time Italian teams have a bad week feels like a cop-out. All three Champions League representatives are capable of better than they delivered and deserve to be called out on the specifics.

Bodø exposed the same defensive frailty that Inter have shown repeatedly in head-to-head games against their strongest domestic competitors. It would be oversimplifying things to suggest their continued reliance on a 38-year-old Francesco Acerbi and a 37-year-old Yann Sommer tells a story, but it is certainly a relevant part of the narrative.

They lead Serie A because they are strong enough going forwards to make sure that lesser sides never lay a glove on them. Inter have been ruthlessly consistent at beating teams they are supposed to beat. No scars from the loss to Bodø were exposed in a 2-0 win over a thoroughly outmatched Lecce on Saturday.

Milan are a reverse image of their neighbours. They have delivered repeatedly in the biggest games this season, beating Inter, Napoli and Roma, as well as drawing away to Juventus. But coming into this weekend they had also dropped points to bottom-half sides including Cremonese, Pisa, Genoa, Fiorentina and Parma.

Sunday was their chance to put things right against the latter side. On paper, Milan’s team looked strong. Christian Pulisic was back in the starting XI for the first time in a month after the inflammation of a hip injury. Rafael Leão was alongside him in the attack with Luka Modric, Adrien Rabiot and Alexis Saelemaekers, all adding to the creative mix behind them.

Perhaps with hindsight there were also signs that this was about to be “una serata storta” – an evening when things just go wrong. The centre-back Matteo Gabbia was injured in the warmup. Ruben Loftus-Cheek had to be carried off the pitch on a stretcher, with his head in a brace, after a collision with Parma’s goalkeeper, Edoardo Corvi, in the seventh minute.

A devastating moment for the Englishman, who may have harboured hopes of playing in this summer’s World Cup after he made his first appearance for the national team in seven years last October. Milan released a statement saying Loftus-Cheek had suffered a fracture to his upper teeth and maxillary alveolar bone in his jaw. He was expected to undergo surgery on Monday, and recovery will keep him out for several months.

Ardon Jashari came off the bench to replace him. Milan were understandably disjointed for a while, though it should be said that the best chance even before that incident had fallen to Parma, Emanuele Valeri receiving the ball as he hugged the left touchline and crossing for Mateo Pellegrino, who volleyed just wide.

The Ducali are a fascinating story of their own this season. They appointed Carlos Cuesta as manager last summer, 29 years old at the time and lacking any previous experience leading a first team or indeed playing football professionally. Many fans might have known him primarily from his appearances during the Amazon All or Nothing series following Arsenal through the 2021-22 season, giving pep talks to players as an assistant to Mikel Arteta.

Cuesta made his break into coaching with Atlético Madrid at 19, building rapport with members of their academy staff through Twitter and offering to help as a volunteer. He worked his way up to oversee the under-14s, before leaving to travel around Europe visiting clubs and trying to learn from different coaches.

During a stop in Turin, Cuesta left such an impression on one of Juventus’s directors – Federico Cherubini – that Juventus offered him a job with their academy. He stayed for two years before joining Arsenal, where he initially was hired as an “individual development coach”, working one-on-one with players to help them address specific areas of their games that they wanted to improve.

It was Cherubini, now serving as Parma’s chief executive, who brought him back to Italy last summer. In a country whose football establishment can be wary of foreign managers, the appointment of one so young and lacking direct experience was met with scepticism.

Cuesta might not have turned out to be the man that either his doubters or supporters imagined. Despite serving an effective apprenticeship under Arteta, he has not tried to install the sorts of possession-focused systems his old boss might prefer. Parma line up most often with a back three that looks like a five. They routinely sit deep, don’t press and rely on the long ball.

And that is working out just fine. A team who only preserved their top-flight status in the final round of last season is on course to get there much more comfortably this time around. They arrived for this game 12th in the table. They finished it by adding another three points to their tally.

Milan, predictably, had lots of the ball, but only in the second half did they start to look a little threatening. Leão had the ball pinched off his toes by Corvi after making a smart run behind the defence, and Pulisic’s attempt to drive home the rebound was only kept out by a sliding block from Mariano Troilo. The Portugal forward then hit the post after Parma failed to clear a corner.

Even then, though, it felt piecemeal, moments of encouragement more than an overwhelming buildup of pressure. In the 80th minute, Parma won a corner of their own. Troilo got above Davide Bartesaghi and headed in at the back post. The goal was initially disallowed, Lautaro Valenti judged to have fouled Milan’s goalkeeper, Mike Maignan, but that decision was overturned after a VAR review.

Saturday Juventus 0-2 Como, Lecce 0-2 Inter, Cagliari 0-0 Lazio

Sunday Genoa 3-0 Torino, Atalanta 2-1 Napoli, Milan 0-1 Parma, Roma 3-0 Cremonese

Parma held on to win 1-0, their third straight Serie A victory and another big step towards survival. Milan, in the week when they hoped to squeeze Inter, instead fell 10 points behind the league leaders.

In one sense, this was no catastrophe. Juventus also lost to Como and appear to be in danger of letting an unjust derby d’Italia become the catalyst for their entire season to go to pieces. Napoli were beaten 2-1 by Atalanta as well. In a season of fierce competition for Champions League spots, Milan remain comfortably on course for that objective – sitting second, eight points clear of fifth place.

This was indeed only their second defeat of this season, and the first since the opening weekend. Massimiliano Allegri has not made Milan spectacular, and there will always be some who criticise his use of individual players, arguing for instance that Leão’s pace is wasted through the middle. But no team besides Inter has been so consistent.

Allegri was serving a suspension on Sunday, so did not attend post-game interviews, but had predicted beforehand that Milan would need to win 12 of their remaining 13 games to overhaul Inter. If that estimate is correct, then at least the maths from here are straightforward. Win every game and be champions, or accept that not even a lighter schedule could allow Milan to compete with their neighbours.