Europa League Qualification - Should it really be AC Milan's objective?

AC Milan is having one of its worst seasons of the Berlusconi era, but they can still qualify for the Europa League (EL). According to Adriano Galliani, this is Milan's objective for the remainder of the season:

It is not true that Milan does not want to participate in Europa League. Qualifying for this tournament is our new objective for the rest of the season.

Having restored some pride by winning last week's derby, Milan is currently 8th with 54 points, 1 point behind the 6th place (last qualifying spot) and 3 behind the 5th. The 4th place is pretty much a done deal for Fiorentina. Hellas Verona, 10th with 53 points, can still dream of a EL spot too. So the battle rages on with two gameweeks to go...

But should AC Milan really make it to the Europa League?

AC Milan has never won the Europa League (fka UEFA Cup and Inter-cities Fairs Cup). Their best finish was reaching the semi-finals twice in 1972 (losing to Tottenham - see below) and 2002 (losing to Borussia Dortmund), but often crashing out much earlier than that.

This tournament has never motivated AC Milan and will never do. AC Milan have the Champions League in their DNA. Who can forget the humiliation against Bordeaux in the quarter finals of the 1996 edition? Having won the first leg 2-0 thanks to goals from Eranio and Baggio, the Milan of Baresi and Maldini capitulated in the second leg at Parc Lescure:

The Europa League is not the Champions League (CL). Excluding matchday revenues and market pool share, a potential winner of the EL can take home up to EUR10m, whereas the CL will offer up to EUR37.4m. Playing on Thursdays can be detrimental to the League form, and even worse, if Milan finishes 6th (the most likely scenario), they will play the Third Qualifying Round, with the first leg scheduled on 31 July 2014, less than a month after the end of the World Cup. The following round, the Play-off round, will follow in late August. This does not only mean that AC Milan will have to start their season very early, it also means that the players will hardly have a break, and the preparation would have to be cut short. Add to that the presence of Clarence Seedorf in Brazil as a pundit for the BBC, and then you start wondering how will Milan be prepared to tackle the 2014-15 Serie A, which starts just two days after the first leg of the Play-off round...

Not playing the Europa League won't be a financial disaster as opposed to not playing the Champions League. Not playing the Europa League will spare them the hassle of mid-week games, without making them lose any appeal in the transfer market. Has a player ever said: I will only stay in this club if they make it to the EL? Or I would only move to that club if they are playing in the EL? No, you only hear this tune when the Champions League is concerned.

AS Roma had a great run in Serie A this year, winning the first 10 games of the season and then finishing in second place. Liverpool had its best Premier League campaign in years, fighting for the title until the very end. Would they have achieved these good performances had they played in the EL? Given the quality and the size of the squad, surely not...

Juventus - Benfica, or the fight for the 4th spot of the UEFA Country Ranking

66.772 versus 61.466. A gap of 5.306 points. This is what is currently separating Italy (4th) and Portugal (5th) in the UEFA Country Coefficients Ranking. It does seem like a large gap, but this ranking takes into account the last 5 seasons only. So when the points of the 2009/2010 season (and the historical Inter treble) go out of the equation next year, Italy will lose an advantage of 5.428 points over Portugal. Simple maths show that this is greater than the current gap...

Antonio Conte has taken the Europa League as seriously as he can, even though he (rightfully) feels that the Champions League is Juventus' "natural habitat". Following the win against Lyon in the quarter finals, he said:

We cared about reaching this objective and hope all of Italy can be happy with it. We represent Italy and that has to bring satisfaction, as there hadn't been a European semi-finalist for six years.

Conte makes a reference to the 2007-08 season, when Cesare Prandelli's Fiorentina made it to the semi-finals only to lose to Rangers on penalties. He is also proud that he is flying the flag for the Italian Football, because he knows very well that Italian clubs have been very poor in the past few years and that the UEFA Country Coefficient is a serious matter. Italians do not care that much about this ranking, and Italy has already lost the 3rd spot and subsequently its allocation of 4 teams in the Champions League.

Being 4th, 5th or 6th, is actually pretty much the same thing, as you would get 3 Champions League slots anyway. But today, instead of being close to catching Germany and to winning back its 3rd spot, Italy is way behind and it's the 4th spot that is in danger.

At last week's draw, Ciro Ferrara decided that it will be an Italy / Portugal clash, and the 4th place will be up for grabs. Juventus must beat Benfica to keep the status quo. Juventus must beat Benfica to play the final in its own beautiful Juventus Stadium. Juventus must beat Benfica to emulate the 1993 generation. Back then, Juventus, led by a fantastic Roberto Baggio (and Antonio Conte), beat Benfica 4-2 in aggregate in the quarter finals on their way to winning the then called UEFA Cup.




Good luck Juve...