‘Abandoned’ Fonseca turns to youth but fate ‘seems largely written’

Paulo Fonseca might well be trying to hide it, but he has his back to the wall as AC Milan’s coach and seems to be constantly fighting battles.

According to Calciomercato.com, tonight’s match against Hellas Verona could really represent ‘the last stop’ on Fonseca’s journey at Milan. While the management have defended him, the Champions League places are slipping away and a negative result could be the final straw.

The press conference on the eve of the game at the Stadio Bentegodi included many quotes that could be seen as a clear declaration of the great difficulties that the coach found himself facing in an experience that started off uphill from the very beginning.

He arrived amid the skepticism of the fans and when the first few league results (plus two defeats in the Champions League) kicked off competitive action, things like the differences with Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez plus further stumbles only fuelled these doubts.

Yesterday, the Portuguese coach tried to defend his work, stating: “The team has already improved in many things, it is true that the results sometimes do not show it. But what is the game in which we had big problems or in which the other team has been much better so far?