No remontada, no qualification, no history. Milan collapses under the overwhelming power of Atletico Madrid and sadly leaves the Champions League, a stage that, if all goes well, they will only find again in a couple of seasons. The Rossoneri needed a feat, this had already been widely said on the eve, but given the first leg it was legitimate to expect more, much more. Instead, the battle promised by Galliani and Seedorf lasted only 40 minutes, the time necessary for the colchoneros to close the game, match and match. It was precisely on that lucky shot by Arda Turan that the perfect image of Milan 2013/14 was obtained: soft, distracted and also unlucky. Characteristics that are usually part of bad seasons, to be canceled as soon as possible. In hindsight, one could say that qualifying was too difficult a task to achieve, but looking at the double confrontation (especially the San Siro match) a little bitterness remains in the mouth. Three weeks ago the Rossoneri would have deserved, if not a win, at least a draw and maybe yesterday things would have gone differently. For the rest, the recriminations are zero, despite the fact that the first half of Seedorf's eleven was anything but to throw away. However, the constant is becoming chronic: Milan play well at most once, then collapse both mentally and physically. With these premises it was impossible to get the better of Atletico Madrid, a tough, true team, in the image and likeness of its coach Simeone. On the night of the Calderon there is little, very little to save: the reaction after the immediate disadvantage, a couple of singles (Kaka, Poli, maybe De Jong). Among these there is Balotelli, the worst in the field, capable of getting noticed only for the silly yellow card remedied for protests at the end of the first half. Despite Supermario's bad evening, Milan had moved very well. Immediately under the colossal ingenuity of the award-winning couple Essien-Rami, exploited to great effect by a super (he does) Diego Costa (2 '), the Rossoneri had managed to find an equalizer with Kakà, served brilliantly by Poli.
The 1-1 had shifted the inertia of the match towards the guests, so much so that the Brazilian himself came close to making it 1-2 which would have upset every balance. But then, in Milan's best moment, Arda Turan's goal arrived, whose harmless shot found Rami's decisive (and unfortunate) deflection. Seedorf tried to shake him up by inserting Robinho in place of Taarabt and changing formation (from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3), but by now the omelette was done. Atletico came close to scoring the third goal with Gabi (crossbar), then, in the 71st minute, found it with Raul Garcia, who headed in among the fine Rossoneri figurines. Milan's reaction, melted like snow in the sun, was all in Robinho's crossbar, however useless for the purposes of qualifying. Which was sealed, or rather celebrated, by Diego Costa (85'), author of a truly terrific match. Thus ended with the classic two sides of the coin: the smiling one (Atletico, honored by Calderon even with the "ola") and the sad one. Everything from Milan, and from Clarence Seedorf. “When you lose there is bitterness, leaving the Champions League is always very sad – thought the Dutchman at the press conference. – In the first half we played a good match, we could have fought for it. But this team struggles to react every time they go down, I'm here to try and cheer them up, starting from Sunday." When Parma arrives at San Siro, for the first of the eleven games that still remain to at least reach the Europa League. Even if, looking at the faces of the Milan fans, there's only a desire to close this season. And quickly too.
