Seven points was already a lot and it was already challenging, that much is clear, but until now, Milan had been the only team to keep up with Cristian Chivu's men, or at least the only ones to come close. On Sunday, in front of their own fans, Rafa Leao and his teammates expected an easy victory, perhaps even the result of a convincing performance, capable of restoring confidence to Christian Pulisic and the Portuguese star himself.
Instead, everything went wrong. To start with, Ruben Loftus-Cheek suffered a nasty injury that forced him off the pitch on a stretcher. His performance this year had been far from memorable, of course, but he was a player thatMax Allegri had decided to rebuild and relaunch. That plan has now been canceled, or at least postponed. Initial reports suggest the English midfielder will be out for eight weeks.
After the shock of the injury, however, things only got worse for Milan as the minutes ticked by. Parma did not start the game resigned to defeat; on the contrary, Carlos Cuesta's team believed from the outset that they had a chance of leaving Milan's home ground with at least a point and they ended up with even more than that.
The minutes ticked by, but Milan failed to break the deadlock. The attempts of Allegri's attacking players were in vain. First, he brought on Niclas Fullkrug, the German striker who is always ready to make a difference, then Christopher Nkunku (after the goal conceded) and, in the final minutes of the game, Zachary Athekame in place of Fikayo Tomori, trying everything, but even that was not enough.
Changes flop
Neither of the two strikers sent on by Allegri managed to break the deadlock or put Milan ahead. In fact, in the 80th minute, Parma managed to score the winning goal, courtesy of Mariano Troilo, with a strike that will give him weeks of excitement and phone calls from friends and family, and probably even a few clubs.
However, Parma's goal was highly controversial: Milan claimed that there were two uncalled fouls in that play, one on Maignan and one on Bartesaghi. After more than four minutes of VAR review, however, the referee decided to award the goal to the visitors. After that goal, Parma inevitably closed up shop, and Milan was unable to get back into the game.
The minutes ticked by and the Rossoneri's attempts to get back into the game, which were rather clumsy, were all in vain. In the end, the final whistle blew and Parma left the field with three crucial points, thanks to which they climbed to 32 points in the standings, giving them a total of eight points advantage over the third-last place, currently occupied by Lecce, Cremonese, and Fiorentina.
Eight points is a lot, and at this point in the year, with the pace set so far by the bottom teams, it looks very much like a spot in next Serie A has already been secured. Obviously, there is still a lot of work to be done to avoid serious risks, but victories like this boost morale and confidence. If you can beat Milan at home, you can face and beat anyone. Well done, Cuesta, well done, Parma.
Milan nearing crisis
As for Milan, however, they now need to reverse course quickly: a reaction is needed immediately. In the coming weeks, Allegri and his boys will face many challenging and delicate matches. The risk of being sucked into the fight for fourth place is real. From March 1 to April 4, Milan will face Cremonese, Inter, Lazio, Torino, and Napoli. These games will likely say a lot, if not everything, about Milan's season.
Losing too many points during this period could be fatal, especially because they will face Napoli, only four points behind. So far, performances have been disappointing, but the points have been coming in.
If the points don't come in, everything will be called into question. The Rossoneri can’t afford to miss out on Champions League qualification. A quick and convincing reaction is needed immediately, starting from the key players of the team, from Leao to Pulisic.