AC Milan Drop Out Of Champions League Places After Final Day Defeat To Cagliari

AC Milan’s season ends with Champions League failure after a 2-1 home defeat against Cagliari on the final Serie A matchday, leaving Massimiliano Allegri’s side outside the top four on 70 points and absent from UEFA’s main club competition for a second straight season in 2025-26.

The points tally underlines the scale of the setback. Applying three points for a win across history, 70 points is the highest total AC Milan have ever collected in a Serie A campaign without finishing inside the Champions League places, underlining how costly recent dropped points at San Siro became.

Allegri’s team started the day in third place, yet Roma, Como and Juventus all remained within reach, meaning any slip could prove decisive. Results elsewhere went against AC Milan once Roma and Como moved ahead in their respective fixtures, piling added pressure on every missed chance at San Siro.

The match actually began in ideal fashion for the hosts. After just two minutes, Alexis Saelemaekers controlled Santiago Gimenez’s delicate knockdown and finished calmly past Elia Caprile, easing tension in the stands. Christopher Nkunku and Youssouf Fofana then forced Caprile into saves as AC Milan chased a second goal.

Cagliari, already safe from relegation and with little at stake, gradually settled into the game. Gianluca Gaetano went close by shooting over before a 20th-minute corner changed the mood. Yerry Mina’s downward header dropped into space and Gennaro Borrelli reacted fastest, sweeping the loose ball beyond Mike Maignan for the equaliser.

AC Milan still created a major opportunity before the interval. Adrien Rabiot made space on the flank and pulled the ball back into the area, yet Gimenez could not hit the target and dragged the effort wide, a miss that gained greater importance as the afternoon unfolded.

The visitors threatened soon after half-time, with Ze Pedro almost turning the match around at the start of the second period. The decisive moment arrived in the 57th minute when Maignan blocked Borrelli’s effort, only for Juan Rodriguez to react quicker than anyone else and head the rebound into the net.

Maignan stayed heavily involved as Cagliari continued to attack. The AC Milan captain denied further efforts from Borrelli and Gabriele Zappa, ultimately making nine saves across the contest. Statistically, Cagliari produced 25 shots and 2.78 expected goals, while AC Milan generated 16 attempts, an xG of 1.74 and only three efforts on target.

That attacking imbalance was clear during the closing stages. With word spreading that Roma and Como were both leading, AC Milan chased an equaliser with growing urgency. Rabiot sent an overhead kick over the bar, while Luka Modric and Davide Bartesaghi each curled efforts wide as anxiety increased around San Siro.

Inside the club, the mood was summed up in a short social media message shared later in the evening:

Allegri’s wider frustration stems from AC Milan’s late-season form at home. Across their final four Serie A matches at San Siro in 2025-26, the team collected only one point, with a record of one draw and three defeats. It is AC Milan’s longest home league run without a victory since a four-match sequence between February and April 2021, when they recorded two draws and two losses.

The key numbers from the campaign and decisive match underline how narrow the margin proved for AC Milan’s Champions League ambitions.

Across 2025-26, AC Milan’s overall performance level still produced a sizeable points total, yet the combination of a poor closing run at San Siro, a decisive final-day defeat to Cagliari and stronger results from direct rivals meant Allegri’s side will again watch the 2025-26 Champions League from afar.