New-look Milan under exam after derby destruction
AC Milan head into Tuesday's Champions League opener with Newcastle United in an uncertain mood after a derby humilation raised doubts over a new-look team set to face old boy Sandro Tonali.
Saturday's 5-1 hammering by Inter Milan ended Milan's 100 per cent start to the league season and led reeling fans to call for the head of coach Stefano Pioli after a brutal fifth straight derby defeat, a run which also includes elimination in last season's Champions League semifinals to their local rivals.
Pioli, who guided Milan to their first league title in 11 years in 2022, was roundly criticised for refusing to apologise to fans for their heaviest derby defeat since 1974.
It was a scoreline he insisted was undeserved as it was rounded off with two late strikes from Hakan Calhanoglu and Davide Frattesi.
"I'm fine with the first 70 minutes, it's the final 15 which need to be forgotten," Pioli told reporters.
"We should have stayed together as a team right until the end, but instead we got demoralised and became unbalanced. At 2-1 we could have got back into it but the third goal (in the 69th minute) took our legs out from under us."
The trio of new signings who had so impressed in Milan's opening three wins – attacker Christian Pulisic and midfielders Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders – were nullified by Inter who have run up an aggregate score of 12-1 in 2023's five derbies.
The humiliating manner of Saturday's loss means the visit of Newcastle takes on a new significance as the first match in a tough Group F which also features Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain.
Milan came into the new season at a crossroads after the big-money sale of boyhood Milan fan Tonali, who Newcastle coach Eddie Howe said should
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