Driving out of the parking lot at San Siro, he stopped briefly to answer questions from a reporter. 'Yes, it's true, I've exited Milan,' he said. 'That's life. Life goes like this. My conscience is calm, because I did everything I could.' Such phrasing might make it sound like Fonseca took the decision himself. He did not.
After drawing 1-1 with the Giallorossi, Milan will end the year eighth in the Serie A table. They are eight points adrift of the top four and trail joint-leaders Atalanta and Napoli by 14. Fonseca had raised the bar after he replaced Stefano Pioli in the summer and stated his objective as: win the Scudetto. But that does not justify treating him so poorly.
If the decision to fire Fonseca was made before kick-off, why not inform him before he spoke at a post-game press conference? Barely an hour before he broke the news of his own dismissal, the Portuguese had told a room of journalists that he expected to travel with his team for Milan's Supercoppa Italiana semi-final in Riyadh on Friday.
It was a damning image, Fonseca sat hunched and alone behind the big red desk in the interview room, fielding questions from reporters who knew more about his position than he did. A perfect contrast with the photo of him grinning and eating a Christmas banquet with his players which remained as the banner on the club's X account right through to late Monday morning.
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