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THE SEASON BEGAN to lose meaning when AC Milan missed out on direct qualification to the Champions League knockout round. A shocking loss to Dinamo Zagreb on the final day of the league phase, facilitated by a needless red card by midfielder Yunus Musah, condemned the Rossoneri to a playoff they'd eventually lose. They won five Champions League games in a row, only to throw away a chance to finish in the top eight that night in Zagreb.

The momentum Milan captured from their unexpected Supercoppa Italiana success in January — courtesy of thrilling comeback wins over Juventus and Inter — had come to a jarring halt. The mood Milan had elevated with 12 wins, five draws, and just two losses between the start of November and beginning of January had fallen back into the clutches of despair. Red cards followed as Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernandez, and Strahinja Pavlovic were sent off in subsequent matches. Milan fell all the way down to ninth place. Head coach Sergio Conceicao's switch to a back three had granted only a temporary reprieve, laying the foundations for a 4-0 win in Udine before giving way nine days later in a 1-0 loss to Atalanta.

Theirs has been a season of false dawns, but the sum of these random results could somehow yield special meaningful. It's been a year to forget but could yet end with two trophies. Milan haven't won a pair of titles in a single campaign since 2007-08, and even then they were nominal, as they claimed the preseason UEFA Super Cup and invitation-only FIFA Club World Cup. Milan also wound up in a disappointing fifth place that term. Winning this year's Coppa Italia over a battle-tested Bologna side that's gunning for back-to-back top-five finishes would salvage an even more regrettable domestic campaign.