Cardinale schedules crisis talks with Amorim after Milan's Europa League humbling by Benfica

AC Milan owner Gerry Cardinale is set to hold crisis talks with head coach Ruben Amorim on Thursday after the club’s 2-0 home defeat to Benfica in the Europa League at San Siro left both the board and supporters deeply frustrated.

Amorim was appointed Milan head coach in the summer and initially appeared to be settling in, going unbeaten across his first four Serie A matches — winning two and drawing two. But a run of three games without a victory has quickly soured the mood at the club.

The alarm bells began ringing at Juventus, where Milan registered just three shots — only one on target — across the entire match, scraping a 1-1 draw against a Juve side that had 18 shots with five on target. A 2-2 comeback draw at Lazio, where Milan trailed by two goals before salvaging a point at the Stadio Olimpico, offered some encouragement in attack but still left questions about the team’s consistency.

The defeat to Benfica proved the tipping point. According to reports from Milan, Cardinale has now scheduled an internal meeting with Amorim to assess the team’s direction, with performances across those three matches understood to be the central focus of the discussions.

For Amorim, the situation carries an uncomfortable echo of his troubled tenure at Manchester United, where he also faced early scrutiny over results and playing style. Whether the Milan hierarchy affords him more patience remains to be seen, but the scheduling of formal crisis talks less than a month into the season signals that goodwill is already being tested.