The 2022-23 AC Milan season ended last night with a 3-1 victory over Hellas Verona and the farewell of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who announced his retirement.
As MilanNews writes, it marks a campaign in which the Rossoneri have not won any trophies having won the Scudetto last season. They finished in fourth place in the Serie A table and secured qualification for the next edition of the Champions League, reached the semi-finals in this year’s edition, lost the Supercoppa Italiana against Inter and exited the Coppa Italia in the round of 16.
When attempting to grade Milan’s season, it must be done so with the context that the team began the season with the legitimate hopes of repeating the Scudetto success from the previous year, or in any case putting up a fight.
A remarkable season by Napoli meant that the battle lasted until about January, but that was when it fell apart as a collapse meant that Milan only finished fourth by virtue of the 10-point deduction given to Juventus.
What just about saves the season from being a disappointing one is the run in the Champions League, but even that ended with a painful 3-0 elimination over two legs in the semi-finals by Inter.
Stefano Pioli was asked for his assessment of the season overall during his pre-match press conference before the Verona game, basically confirming the above.
“We set out to win something and we didn’t succeed. We had a great Champions League run, a sufficient league season, we could aim for second place, but we dropped too many points on the way. It can be a positive season if we learn something,” he said.
“It’s easier to learn from this season. Maldini was generous giving an 8 to Milan’s season. I wasn’t a genius at school, but I was happy when I got a mark of 7. I think it’s an average between the 8 of the Champions League and the 6 of Serie A.”
