There was only an 18% chance of the most sensational combination occurring. Only one, remote, almost impossible. And yet it really happened. In the craziest and most unpredictable ending of recent years, Milan and Juventus both remain out of the Champions League and will have to settle for the Europa League. A huge flop.
Un epilogo incredibile. Clamoroso. Inaspettato.
On the eve of the last day of Serie A, no one imagined a similar scenario. However, football is unpredictable and the championship provided the most absurd turnaround. In ninety minutes the defeat of the Devil and the Old Lady took place, but she already knew that she was no longer master of her own destiny.
For the first time since the competition took the name of the Champions League, in the 1992/1993 season, neither Milan nor Juventus will play in the top European competition. A historical fact that underlines and amplifies the extent of the disaster.
If Milan threw everything away with a vertical collapse in recent weeks, Juventus instead paid for a season marked by too many ups and downs, by a continuity never really found.
The Bianconeri, also thanks to the arrival of Spalletti, had reopened the game with a comeback that seemed to be able to bring them back firmly into the top four, but just when the final blow was needed the Old Lady was unable to take the final step.
Milan fuori dalla Champions
The Rossoneri have literally thrown away qualification in the last ten matchdays with an inexplicable and devastating collapse. A vertical fall culminated in the worst possible way: the home defeat against Cagliari at San Siro on the last day, the knockout that certified the precipice.
An absurd collapse, almost incomprehensible if you look at the team's path. For 36 days Milan remained permanently inside the Champions League zone. Then, right at the finish line, the total blackout. The pass was not conquered, at a time when it seemed impossible to imagine such an epilogue.
At San Siro the atmosphere had become very heavy even before the kick-off. A harsh protest by organized fans that had sent very clear signals to the club. Then, at the final whistle, the anger finally exploded between deafening whistles, chants against the team and management and an endless protest.
Failure to qualify is a total disaster. On an economic level, due to the weight of the lost revenue from the Champions League. On an emotional level, because the fracture between the environment and the club appears very deep. On a technical level, because now a revolution seems inevitable.
The absence from the cup that counts is a very hard, almost surreal blow for a team that had spent the entire season looking down on Europe and even for a few days was considered Inter's main rival in the fight for the title.
The end of the championship delivered a verdict that no one would have predicted: Milan and Juve out, overwhelmed by an absurd epilogue. Ninety minutes that transformed a remote statistical possibility into a sensational reality. And which will inevitably enter the history of Italian football as the night of the double failure.