Cigars and Silverware help Sergio Conceicao Announce His AC Milan Arrival in Style
Published on: January 7, 2025
A week is a long time in football. For AC Milan, this past week felt more like a year such was the degree of change over the period.
Eight days ago, Il Diavolo officially sacked Paulo Fonseca after a 1-1 draw with Roma left them eighth in Serie A, eight points off a Champions League spot.
The 51-year-old, who was just six months into his three-year deal, was replaced by fellow Portuguese and former Serie A star Sergio Conceicao.
The former Porto manager barely had time to meet his players before Milan boarded a plane to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Supercoppa Italiana.
His suitcase will be heavier on the flight back to Italy, as Conceicao won his first trophy after just two games in charge.
The sight of the Portuguese dancing in the Milan dressing room after they beat Inter Milan 3-2 on Monday night puffing on a cigar would have been unthinkable a week ago.
At his unveiling, Conceicao spoke of taking chances and his team heeded the advice.
Trailing 1-0 to Juventus in the semi-final, Milan drew level through a Christian Pulisic penalty, before a Federico Gatti own goal three minutes later rubber-stamped a 2-1 win.
In the process, the Rossoneri became the first Italian team to beat Juventus this season and set up a meeting with Inter in the final.
Back in September, Milan turned the tables on their city rivals, with Matteo Gabbia’s 89th minute header sealing a 2-1 win and temporarily saving Fonseca’s job.
There looked to be no repeat of that on Monday night in Riyadh as Lautaro Martinez ended his goal drought with a smartly-taken finish on the stroke of half-time.
Shortly after the break, Mehdi Taremi, filling in for the injured Marcus Thuram, doubled Inter’s advantage and looked to have put the game beyond Milan’s reach.
Losing his first Derby della Madonnina would not have been a particular source of shame for Conceicao. Inter, after all, were overwhelming favourites in the final.
The reigning Serie A champions are 13 points clear of their local rivals and a much more solid side than a Milan team which, as Fonseca himself admitted, was frustratingly inconsistent.
But Conceicao gambled and introduced Rafael Leao with 40 minutes left to play.
Unplayable on his day, a passenger the next, the Portuguese winger has embodied Milan’s rollercoaster nature this season.
Luckily for Conceicao, the best version of Leao showed up in Saudi Arabia.
Theo Hernandez, a player who like Leao had clashed with Fonseca, pulled one back with a brilliant free-kick.
Speaking after the game, Milan’s left-back conceded the players should bear responsibility for Fonseca’s departure.
“If Fonseca left, it’s not only his fault,” he said. “It’s also our fault.”
With Milan back in the game, it was time for Leao to take centre stage.
First he blitzed past Yann Aurel Bisseck to set up a glorious chance for Tijjani Reijnders that the Dutchman would have converted had it not been for Alessandro Bastoni’s last-ditch block.
Then he released Hernandez, whose cross found Pulisic in the box.
The American stole a step on Bastoni and buried the ball in the bottom corner past Yann Sommer, becoming the club’s top scorer with 10 goals in 22 appearances in all competitions this season.
Pulisic and Leao combined again in the third minute of injury time, with the Portuguese seizing on his teammate’s slide-rule pass before setting up Tammy Abraham for the simplest of tap-ins.
Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday, Arrigo Sacchi identified Leao’s introduction as the moment the game swung Milan’s way.
“He did some incredible things, he tore the game apart,” the former Milan manager said. “It’s frustrating to see someone with his talent not always perform at his best.
“He has amazing physical and technical abilities, but needs to find more consistency to reach his full potential.”
For his part, Leao seemed to acknowledge his effort has at times been found wanting.
“There are times when you can make a mistake,” the Portuguese said. “You can misplace a pass or fail to beat your man. But you can’t play with the wrong desire. Desire is fundamental. No one can be sure of their place in the team.
“You can’t get comfortable at Milan.”
His endorsement of Conceicao was just as telling.
“What he’s done in the matter of a few days is incredible,” he explained to Italian broadcaster Mediaset.
“I need to hear what he is telling me. I felt an energy the first time I saw him.”
The Supercup was Milan’s first silverware since the Scudetto they won in 2022 under Stefano Pioli and Conceicao has become the fastest Rossoneri manager to win a trophy and only the second foreigner to do so after Nils Liedholm.
While any Scudetto hopes have long evaporated and chances of glory in the Champions League are slim, the Coppa Italia is a more realistic target for Milan.
The Rossoneri welcome Roma in the quarter-finals knowing a win would at least see them one game away from a return to next year’s Supercup.
And Zlatan Ibrahimovic made clear Conceicao’s first trophy should only be seen as a stepping stone onto something greater.
“This is Milan, we’re here to win trophies,” the Swede, now RedBird Capital’s senior adviser to the Milan board, told the players in the dressing room.
“If you want to be part of Milan’s history, you have to win these cups.
“We’ve achieved one of our targets. We wanted to see a reaction from the team after the coaching change, and that’s exactly what we’ve got.”
The challenge for Conceicao and Milan now is to prove their Supercup triumph is not a flash in the pan.
Two games are an admittedly very small sample size upon which to judge the Portuguese, who is under contract until the end of the season.
More to the point, his players had pulled off impressive wins earlier this season, beating Inter and Real Madrid before slumping back into mediocrity.
The feeling is that while not blessed with the same talent of Inter, Juventus and perhaps Napoli, this Milan squad remains a lot better than what Fonseca got out of it.
Unlike his compatriot, who arrived at the San Siro with promises of thrilling football, Conceicao has vowed to keep it simple.
“Football, for me, is simple,” he said. “There’s one goal you score in and another you don’t let them score in.”
It’s a principle that will serve Milan well over the remainder of the season.
