Cardinale dissatisfied since December – background on the breakdown with Pioli

With the widespread news that Stefano Pioli is set to depart AC Milan at the end of the season, more background information continues to filter about the breakdown between the sides.

Calciomercato.com report that Pioli will leave Milan at the end of the season. The decision has been made, the Rossoneri coach will be sacked, despite having a contract expiring on 30 June 2025.

The defeat in the quarter-finals of the Europa League was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. The cycle is over and from 1 July this year Milan will have a new coach.

Gerry Cardinale, owner of RedBird and owner of Milan, was ‘furious about his team’s insipid performance at the Olimpico’, so much so that Thursday’s poor performance could lead him to change plans and not attend the derby against Inter, scheduled for Monday at 20:45 CEST.

Pioli bought Milan to bring it back to the glories of the past with the Scudetto win and the Champions League semi-final last season, but Cardinale finds it unacceptable that after the investments made there his team are out of every competition with over a month of the season still to be played.

The one who will pay will be Pioli, with whom the relationship has been cracking for some time. Even back in December, before Christmas, Cardinale sent a message: “Like all of you, I am not satisfied with our current position in Serie A or the Champions League.”

For the Rossoneri to be out of the Champions League in the group stage, out in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia and Europa League, plus being 14 points behind leaders Inter in the league can – in the eyes of the owner – only mean a change of coach.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now pushing for change too. The final decision will be made together with Paolo Scaroni, Giorgio Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada, but the Swede is not willing to go back and is already working on a replacement.

He is taking the foreign route into consideration. Thiago Motta has an agreement in principle with Juventus, and there have been contacts with Julen Lopetegui but also Paulo Fonseca of Lille